Ups and Downs
by Killbles
Summary: Rainbow Dash and Soarin have settled down, had a family and are living the good life. But as with everything in life there must be ups and downs. Old enemies return and feuds reignite, turning what they thought would be the best time of their lives into hell.
1. Four years on

*Jumps out from behind tree*

Oh... hello, fancy seeing you here. I mean didn't I say I wouldn't write the sequel for a little while? I did, but rule number one: The author lies. Sometimes.

Now if you haven't read 'On a Wing and a Rainbow', I recommend you move that mouse cursor of yours over to my name at the top of the story, click on it and look under the stories I've published for 'On a Wing and Rainbow' and read it. It'll make this story better. Really. Apparently it's also a good story as well.

Anyway, I don't know how long this will go for, we'll see! To start off though, here's a nice longish chapter to get you started. I will warn you it is a bit slow to start with. A few new characters to introduce and a whole new time period. Trust me, it'll get there. Eventually. So it's not really quite what it says on the tin... yet.

So grab a bottle of your favourite beverage, some food, a comfy chair and some Scottish Pirate metal. (One of those things is not like the others... you guessed it, the comfy chair! *Ba dum tish*)

Now enough of my ramblings, onto the story!

**Disclaimer: I don't own MLP:FiM, Hasbro does, But you already knew that right?**

Now, read on!

* * *

**Chapter 1: Four years on...**

Rainbow Dash awoke suddenly as a blue blur jumped on her.

"Mummy, mummy, mummy mummy mummy! Get up!" it yelled excitedly.

"Ergh! Haven't you ever heard of an inside voice?" Rainbow asked her son, Silver Star. She could hear that Soarin had received a similar, if not rougher, treatment from her daughter, Patchwork.

Opening an eye cautiously, she saw Star standing on her, his eyes gleaming with excitement.

"First day of school, first day of school!" he yelled again, he started bouncing up and down on top of his mother.

"Ow… Ow… Ow..." Dash intoned dryly.

"Come on! Get up mum!" Silver Star complained.

"Yeah, both of you lazy flanks get up." Patch added.

"Language missy" Soarin remarked sternly, his eyes still firmly closed.

"Sorry dad." Patch huffed

"You two run along, we'll be up in a moment okay?" Soarin said. Dash silently threw him a 'thank you' look.

Both of their children grumbled slightly, but filed out of their parent's bedroom without further complaint.

"Good to see Star is so enthusiastic." Soarin said cheekily.

"Yeah… He wasn't… jumping up and down on… you though" Rainbow said arching her back, popping a few joints as she did so. She massaged her back to ease the pain slightly.

Soarin chuckled a bit before lifting himself out of bed, in the four years since Patchwork had been born, Rainbow and Soarin had been married and had another child. The pair had handled the strains of parenthood remarkably well. Soarin had still maintained his position as Captain of the Wonderbolts, but took less of an active position in the team shows. There were some whispers going around that he would become the team's new manager and that Juggernaut would be bumped up to captain. Rainbow was still officially a member of the team but had only been performing a in a reserve position. During the time when she had been pregnant, she had moved back to her position of managing the Ponyville weather team, a job which she still occasionally found herself doing in her spare time. She had yet to retake her old position on the team as she had insisted very uncharacteristically to instead take the time to raise her children.

"Suppose we'd better get up eh?" Soarin suggested. "At least before the kids come and attack us again." He added with a wry smile.

* * *

"Star, please stop bouncing around, you look ridiculous." Rainbow asked nicely.

"What's ridiculous?" he asked innocently

"You look silly."

"Oh… Do I look funny?" he asked hesitantly.

"You look beautiful, just stop jumping around ok?" Rainbow said. She ruffled his navy and light blue mane affectionately.

"Mum! Cut it out." He whined, styling his mane back into shape.

The pair was walking to the schoolhouse in Ponyville after a short flight down from Rainbow's house. She and Soarin had deliberately moved the house closer to the ground before Patchwork was born so she could learn to fly down to ground a little more safely. Patchwork was now old enough to fly without assistance, but Silver Star was still a little too young and nervous (Not that he'd ever admit that) to fly down by himself.

They trotted towards the red building causally; Rainbow could already pick out the small crowd of gathered parents and foals, some eager, others nervous about starting school. Inside the grounds, a few of the slightly older children watched the proceedings with a lazy interest.

"Hey mum, will Aunty Twilight be here?" Star asked eagerly. He and Twilight's child, Midnight Shine, had grown up together and were virtually best friends.

"She'll be there. Midnight is starting this year as well isn't he?"

"He sure is!" he squeaked back adorably.

As they approached the low murmuring of ponies filled the air, punctuated occasionally by the higher pitched squeal of a couple of foals playing around. A midnight blue streak darted out from a nearby bush and tackled star. The small tumbling ball of chaos was broken up by Rainbow a moment later.

"Hey! I had him fair and square." Protested Midnight Shine.

"You boys and your games." Rainbow muttered as she put Midnight back down on the ground. He ran around Rainbow and re-joined his friend. They whispered a few words between them and giggled a little.

"Your mum here Midnight?" Dash asked the colt.

"Yeah, she's over there somewhere." He pointed towards the school house.

Leading the way, Rainbow took the two colts through the small crowd towards the red building. As Rainbow moved through the crowd, Twilight came into view. She was talking animatedly with Cheerilee.

"Morning Twilight, Cheerilee." She said as she walked up to them, the two children in tow.

"Hi Rainbow." The two ponies said in unison. Silver star wasted no time in jumping on Twilight with a yell of "Aunty Twilight!"

"Hello Star, you ready for your first day?"

"Sure am!" he replied enthusiastically.

"Since I think that's about everypony, maybe we should get started." Cheerilee said. She was clearly excited to have new students to teach.

Silver Star practically bubbled with excitement.

"Alright, I'm going to leave you here kiddo, I'm sure you'll have a great day." Rainbow said hugging Star tightly.

"You'll pick me up after school?" he asked.

"Actually your father said he would come and get you." Rainbow said.

"Okay." Star chirped brightly. "See you later mum!"

He shared a quick glance with Midnight before running inside.

"Bye, have a good day" Rainbow yelled out

Rainbow stood and watched for a moment for turning around.

"Grow up so fast don't they?" Twilight said

"Yeah, tell me about it."

* * *

Soarin flew through the air, effortlessly keeping pace with his daughter. _'Step-daughter technically'_ he reminded himself for the millionth time. Unusually, he was taking her to the flight school in Cloudsdale. Normally Rainbow Dash would take her in the mornings and fly home with her in the afternoon, but as Silver Star was old enough to go to school now, she had taken him there instead leaving Soarin to take her to Cloudsdale.

"I don't see why you guys always have to take me to flight school." Patch protested. "I'm old enough to fly fine by myself."

"Of course you are champ. What wrong though? Don't you want to spend time with your old geezer? Are you already sick of us? Want to leave us already?" Soarin teased.

"No way, you and mum are the coolest parents ever." Patch proudly stated. "I mean nopony else at flight school has two Wonderbolts for parents."

"I don't think many ponies could boast that at all." Soarin replied truthfully.

"Yeah! And All those flying lessons you gave me are great, I'm undoubtedly the best flier around. Another good thing about you and mum being awesome." She quickly added doing a lazy backflip to prove her point.

"You sound just like your mother when she was younger, Best flier in Equestria this and Fastest Pegasus ever that. It was quite funny actually, first time I met her, which was at the Best Young Fliers Competition, she was a nervous wreck." He chuckled heartily. "Did I ever tell you that story?"

"Mum has told me that one so many times. I want to know though; did she really do a Sonic rainboom?"Patch asked curiously.

"Well apparently so, I was kind of like this at the time so I wouldn't really know." He pulled a cross eyed, crazy look which made Patch giggle.

"Yeah, then mum had to save your scrawny flank." She teased.

"Ahem. Language again." Soarin admonished.

"Well Sooorry, Dad. I'm just telling it as it was told."

Soarin circled around her once. "Oh really?" He asked a hint of amusement in his voice. "Scrawny flank she said eh? Might have to mention that to your mum next I see her, see what makes of it hey?"

Patch giggled again at the thought.

"So how's school going for you patch?" Soarin asked

"Ergh... Boring." She said. She elaborated when Soarin gave her a curious look. "I mean. I'm not learning anything! Nothing important anyway. I mean I'm the best flier around and I don't care about of the other stuff. It's all useless boring stuff anyway." She pointed to her cutie mark, a small wing embossed on a golden boot. She had gotten her cutie mark after winning a long gruelling endurance flight race. "I'm obviously good at long distance races and stuff so why do I still have to go to stupid school?"

"You can't race your whole life. So you have to know other things in life." Soarin said. "Imagine this, if you can't race and that's all you know, how will you be able to make any money, buy food so on and provide for your family?" He asked wisely.

"Oh yeah? What else are you good at then huh? I didn't think you could do much more than fly fast." Patch replied, ignoring his piercing question.

"I'm actually a very talented cloud mason thank you very much, and I spend some of my free time philosophising. Maybe you should try it some time." Soarin said proudly.

"Sounds egg-heady to me." Patch groaned back.

"I wonder who that reminds me of." Soarin said dumbly.

"I'm more like mum than you, haven't you noticed?" she said as she stroked her windswept rainbow mane with a hoof.

"Nope, never realised you had a rainbow coloured mane. Never once." Soarin joked, hoping Patch wouldn't see the pain he was trying to hide.

"Haha real funny dad."

"You want to hear a better one? A pony walks into a bar, the barman says, 'Why the long face?' the pony rubs his neck and replies 'Sorry I'm just a little hoarse.'"

"Daaaaad! That's terrible!" Patch whined.

"They're called dad jokes for a reason you know." Soarin said, stifling his laughter.

"Why's that?" she asked, sure she regret the answer.

"They're really quite punny jokes!" He said laughing.

"Daaaad!"

* * *

Soarin quickly dropped Patch off at the flight school before shooting off. He wasn't particularly fond of the idea of being accosted by fans or the media at the moment. He'd had enough run-ins with them that week alone to last a lifetime. Darting skilfully between a pair of clouds he regained sight of Ponyville. A few small wisps of cloud covered the town and dozens of ponies milled around the small but busy town. Spying a pair of familiar mares in the crowd, he pulled his wings in close to his body and went into a steep dive. Hurtling through the air fast enough to make his eyes water, he snapped his wings out at the last moment to stop his descent. A sudden air pocket made him lurch wildly and instead of landing gracefully next to the pair, he crashed into them like a bowling ball.

Shaking himself off, Soarin grinned down at the pony he was now lying on top of.

"Hey Dashie, how was your morning?"

"Better before you crashed into me you great oaf." She replied snarkily.

Soarin chucked before looking over at the purple unicorn that was sprawled over the ground.

"Sorry about that Twilight." Soarin said struggling to suppress a grin as Twilight's eyes spun around lazily.

"Oh that's quite alright Soarin. Maybe just be a little more careful next time?" she said, straightening her eyes out.

Avoiding the withering look that Rainbow was giving him, Soarin rolled off her and smiled sheepishly. "Won't happen again."

"Better not buddy." His wife remarked sourly.

"Sure thing Sweetie." Soarin said teasingly. He knew that Rainbow hated it when he called her sweetie. She visibly shuddered as he said it.

"Don't push your lu-."

"Ahem" Twilight said, breaking the verbal sparring. Although Twilight knew the pair of pegasi loved each other very much, they were prone to throwing insults and teasing each other on a regular basis. "If you don't mind." She continued. "I'm right here, and I'd rather not have you two throwing down this early in the day. And in the middle of town no less." She said sternly.

"What are you, my mother?" Soarin asked.

"No, but I'm sure your mother would be very disappointed to find you sparing with your wife." Twilight snapped.

"Actually, I'm sure she would be rooting for him and cheering him on from the sidelines." Rainbow said springing next to Soarin to back him up.

Twilight scowled at Rainbow for seemingly suddenly switching sides. She shook her head and sighed explosively. "You two are impossible."

"No, just highly improbable." Soarin said cheekily, winking at Rainbow.

Twilight hid her face with a hoof and shook her head. Muttering something about her head and how much Soarin made it hurt, she took her leave and trotted off towards the library.

"You're a real pillock you know that?" Dash said to Soarin with an amused smirk.

"And you love me for it." Soarin said back. His voice betrayed no hint of doubt.

Rainbow let out a derisive snort. "Yeah… Right." She set off at a steady trot, Soarin close behind her.

"Oh my little Dashie," he teased, ruffling her windswept mane with a hoof. "When did you become such a snarker?"

"Wouldn't have anything to do with you would it?" Dash stated, throwing Soarin an accusing glance.

"Me? Giving you a sarcastic streak a mile wide? Never."

"Don't push it buddy."

"Alright, alright." Soarin muttered. An awkward silence hung over them as they trotted through the town. "So…" Soarin said in an attempt to restart the conversation "How was taking Star to school?"

"He was excited, I wasn't. Good enough for you?" she said in a bored voice. A small wave of irritation passed over her face as a small gaggle of colts shoved their way past her. "Hey watch it!" she yelled after the fleeing colts. "Damn kids."

Soarin quickened his pace and planted himself in front of her. "You ok Dash? You seem to be a bit of a grouch today."

"I'm fine, really." She tried to move around him. He quickly moved in front of her again.

"No, you're not." he said sternly. "What's wrong?"

She sighed and drooped her head. "I'm just getting a bit sick of all this. I mean, I love our kids and stuff, but I really want to get back into the Wonderbolts. With all the running around I do, I barely have time to practice flying." She kicked a clump of dirt dejectedly. Soarin's gaze immediately softened. "That unfortunately is what we sacrifice as parents. I miss the team as well." He sighed. "Look on the bright side. Patch is old enough to look after herself and if we're lucky, maybe we'll be able to get her to look after star. Another few months and maybe you'll be able to re-join in a more permanent role." He said encouragingly.

"It won't be the same though. I liked the days when we could fly together in the shows. I really wish we could perform together again."

"We both know that can't happen." Soarin said. They were both well aware of the anti-fraternisation rules the Wonderbolts had to follow. They were already bending a few rules as is.

"Yeah I know…" Rainbow said wistfully.

"Enough moping you sad sack, you want to go grab something to eat?"

"Yeah sounds good."

"Come on, let's go then." Soarin said cheerfully.

Rainbow stood still for a moment reminiscing about the past before following. _'It is ever so simple?' _she thought to herself as she followed Soarin.

* * *

"Hey mum!" Star yelled enthusiastically as he trotted inside with Soarin behind him.

"Heya squirt! How was school?"

Somehow Star's already wide grin grew wider. "It was so fun! Ms Cheerilee is such a good teacher and all the new colts and fillies are cool and I learnt so much new stuff and I have lots of fun stuff to talk about."

"Calm down, Star. You do need to breathe you know." Soarin said jokingly from behind him.

"Look at this mummy!" Star said, pulling a book out his saddlebag. "I saw it and Ms Cheerilee let me borrow it. I read a bit and I really like it! Are all books so fun to read?"

Rainbow's eyes opened wide. She let out a quiet meep before fainting like a goat. "Oh dear Celestia… I've raised an egghead." She groaned.

"What's an egghead? Why am I an egghead?" Star looked at his mother curiously. Not getting an answer, he looked at Soarin with a genuine look of concern. "I don't have an egg head do I dad?"

Soarin couldn't help but burst out laughing. "No star, it's an expression. It means someone who's into books and reading. I know your mum thinks Twilight is an egghead."

"Cause she is!" Rainbow stated defensively.

"You think anyone who reads is an egghead." Soarin said back.

"Well… yeah…" Rainbow fumbled, not quite sure how to respond.

Star looked back and forth between his parents, confusion etched on his face. A moment later, it was forgotten and the so-large-it-shouldn't-be-healthy grin returned. "Look what else I got!" he scrambled around his saddlebag for a moment before pulling out a slightly crumpled form. He shoved it under Dash's nose with unchecked glee.

"Star stop bouncing please, I can't read it if you're jumping around like Pinkie."

Able to now read the note, Dash saw that it was a permission form for some sort of camp. Scanning through the form, she looked back at her son. "You seem pretty excited about it. Camping this weekend in the woods sounds fun."

"I reckon it'll be great! Maybe I can make some new friends!" he chirped

"You happy with this Soarin?" she asked only to find that Soarin had vanished. Shrugging she signed the note and gave it back to the excited colt running around her legs.

"Thanks mum!" he said around the note in his mouth. He stopped suddenly as if he was forgetting something. He turned back to his mum. "Umm… Mum? One other thing… Ms Cheerilee was looking for some Parents who could go along… I mean… if you wanted to… would you go along?"

"Of course I would champ, sounds like good fun." She smiled broadly. She was nearly bowled over as Star leapt at her and hugged her with surprising force.

"Make sure you ask dad if he wants to go as well." She said as he hefted his saddlebag.

"I will! Thanks mum!" he dashed off to find Soarin. A loud crash and a muffled yelp announced he had found his father and attacked him with similar gusto.

"You boys play nice; I'm going to go get Patch." Dash yelled up the hallway. Soarin's head poked out a doorway with Star dangling precariously from his mane. A look of fake distress crossed Soarin's face.

"Don't leave me Dash! The monster has got me!"

"Oh stop whining you big wuss." Rainbow retorted as she walked out the door.

* * *

"Oh Celestia what now?" Rainbow fumed as she approached the flight academy in Cloudsdale. She had deliberately left early so she would have a bit of time for some stunt flying. Her high spirits after the exhilarating stunts had come crashing down the moment she had seen Patch sitting crossly out the front of the academy, an angry looking member of staff next to her. She landed a short distance away and stomped over to her daughter. "Is there a problem?" she asked already knowing the answer

"A problem Mrs Dash? A problem? Only the most disrespectful, brash and violent Pegasus I've ever had the misfortune to teach." The teacher scathed. A few nearby parents hearing the commotion looked on curiously.

"What has she done now?" Dash asked.

"I didn't do anyth-." Patch started but she was silenced by a look from the teacher.

"She started a fight with another student. Apparently he called her a 'Stuck up airhead with an ego the size of the moon'." The teacher said, quoting a small piece of paper he held.

"He didn't just call me that! He a-." Patch protested.

"Be quiet." The teacher snapped. He returned his attention to Rainbow dash. "The other student is still in the hospital with…" he checked the paper again. "A broken wing, two cracked ribs and apparently a sore hoof."

"Maybe he should learn to fight proper" Patch mumbled under her breath. The teacher scowled at her. He looked back at Dash.

"I have no choice but to suspend your daughter. The student's family also wants you to pay the hospital fees or they will press charges. I recommend you take the former. I also think you should teach your daughter a thing or two about discipline."

"I'll raise my daughter as I see fit thank you very much." Rainbow said coldly.

"I find your lack of discipline disturbing." The teacher shot back.

"Look you stupid git, I'm a fething Wonderbolt. We're the most disciplined team in all of Equestria. I reckon I could teach you a thing or two about it." Rainbow snarled, prodding him in the chest. She gave him her best glare before turning back to Patch.

"You haven't done a good job of handing it down to your offspring." the teacher snapped

Rainbow's eyes shot daggers at him. Resisting the urge to sock the pony in the mouth, she turned away from the academy "Come on young lady, you have a bit of explaining to do." she snapped at Patch.

* * *

"He had it coming, stupid git." Patch muttered as the pair flew home.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "What did he do exactly?"

"Exactly what my stupid teacher said." Patch muttered reluctantly. "He was also you guys jumped-up, egotistical, self-centred show ponies though." She added.

Rainbow let out a long sigh. "Look Patch, sometimes ponies say stuff and it hurts or you don't agree with it, whatever. You can't just go jump on them for name calling though. I was a lot like you when I was your age. Always a rebel and a bit of a hothead. Already the fastest flier in the whole academy" she added. "Drove my mum crazy I'll give you that. I was eventually kicked out for being such a pain in the flank."

Patch's eyes widened "Really? You got kicked out? Dad always told me you dropped out."

"Close enough, I was tired of the dump by that time anyway."

Patch fell silent as she digested this new information. As if by telepathy Rainbow turned to her. "I will not let you drop out though. You've got too much ahead of you to throw it away. Look at me for example. I left flight academy and where did I end up? In a dead end weather job."

"You're in the Wonderbolts mum." Patch reminded her.

"I got lucky." Dash replied, suddenly aware of how her life story wasn't the best example. The pair lapsed into silence again.

"I must say though," Rainbow said, looking over Patch. "You had what sounds like a good fight with this guy and you are practically unscathed. Don't tell anyone else this but I reckon you did a pretty good job."

"What?" Patch asked disbelievingly.

"Nothing, nothing." Rainbow lied.

Unsure if she had heard her mother correctly, Patch fell silent again and continued flying.

* * *

"She what?" Soarin said dumbstruck. He lowered the book he was reading to look at Dash. After returning home with Patch, Rainbow had decided to not tell Soarin straight away and rather tell him that evening.

"Check your hearing Soarin." Dash teased.

"She beat up another guy? What did he do this time? He didn't say the three dreaded words like the last one did he?" Soarin remarked, flicking a page casually.

"No… the stupid colt was making fun of her… and us. Apparently."

"That girl has some real temper issues Dash. What are we going to do about this? I mean we can pay the fees without problem but what about Patch. She can't just be unpunished for what she did."

"What she did was a bit excessive yes, but I think that being suspended is enough."

Soarin looked up from his book and scowled at her.

"Dash, I think you need to realise we can't just not discipline our kids."

She poked her head out from the ensuite attached their bedroom.

"I think what she did was justified."

"So it's fine for our kids to go around and beat up other ponies just because they call them names?" Soarin admonished.

"No, I didn't say that… I think that she has learnt her lesson though."

"Whatever. I'll talk with her about it later anyway." Soarin sighed. Arguing with Dash was virtually impossible. "I just feel that you don't take things like this seriously enough."

"Don't take them seriously enough? Look chum, I'm pissed off that I had to have a yelling contest with a teacher today. I talked with Patch about it on the way home I think that's enough."

"That's the point Dash. You never want to take anything past a talk. That's fine to a certain point I think, but this is the second time Patch has beat up a kid at school. I think this is getting a bit more serious now."

"What do you want to hit her?" Dash snarled.

"What! No!" Soarin protested "I just think we need to be a bit stricter."

"I had strict enough parents Soar, I don't want to pass that treatment onto my kids."

"They're my kids as well." Soarin reminded her

"Only one of them." Dash snapped without thinking.

A sudden gulf of silence filled the room.

"Thank you for reminding me." Soarin said icily. "It's not like I have to deal with that every damn day I'm with her you know."

"Soarin-."

"Don't bother, just drop it." he snapped. He put his book down and turned his bedside light off. He rolled over so he wasn't looking at Dash.

"Soari-."

"I said drop it." he snarled.

"Touchy…" Dash muttered

"Shut up." Soarin growled.

"Just listen to yourself. Maybe that kid wasn't entirely wrong." Rainbow said, her temper rising slightly.

Soarin's nostrils flared "That I'm some arrogant, self-centred showoff?" he yelled.

"You're sure acting like it. That's all you're thinking about. Me, me, me."

"Why can't I voice my damn opinion without you saying I'm being an egotistical snob?"

"Why do you care so much, she's not even yours?"

"She's my daughter as much as yours." Soarin snarled back. Both of the pegasi's tempers were now well and truly fraying like a rope under strain. Soarin had stood up and was now face to face with his wife.

"How about we both just stop this before one of us says something they'll regret." Rainbow said slowly.

"You already did." Soarin snapped. He broke the deadly staring contest they were having and returned the bed. He rolled away from Dash and was silent.

Rainbow shook he head in confusion and climbed into bed as well. She didn't even bother trying to reason with the seething stallion next to her and instead focused on trying to sleep. _'Big softie' _she thought as she drifted off.

* * *

You got all that?

All of it? Really?

Cool. Now where am I going with this..? That's for me to tell and you to find out. Don't worry guys, I got this. (I hope!)

Anyway, thanks for reading at stuff, I hope you enjoyed the slow chapter. If I've missed anything or something needs explaining etc. Please don;t hesitate to wing off a PM to me. I will probably write this fairly slowly as I have got a few other ideas running through my head at the moment. Also to any of you who will ask, what happened to Spitfire, You'll find out... Soon... Muhahaha. Not to mention some other crazy shenanigans which I will write. Soon...

As always, please leave a review, I appreciate your feedback immensely. Even if you just say 'Cool story bro, needs more ponies' It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. (Seriously if everyone now writes that for a review, I will never write again...) Any questions, queries, quibbles, requests, death threats, praise or stalker mail are appreciated (Though not so much for death threats and stalker mail...)

Until next time...

Killbles


	2. Scar

That was a little while wasn't it?

Remember how the last chapter was long? Well this one is longer... yay.

I'll just mention here that I will be going back and reworking some chapters in 'On a wing and a rainbow.' I have received a bunch of helpful critique that has given me the motivation to rewrite the bits I wasn't happy with. There won't be any continuity changes, so you don't have to reread it if you don't want to.

I'll see you at the end

**Disclaimer: I don't own MLP:FiM, Hasbro does. **

Now, read on!

* * *

A blaze of warm sunlight awoke Rainbow Dash. Shutting her eyes quickly to block out the blinding light, she rolled over expecting to meet resistance in the form of Soarin next to her but instead rolled into empty space. Cautiously opening her eyes again she noticed that Soarin was indeed missing. Sighing disappointedly she recalled the argument they from last night. _'Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!'_ she thought. Groaning in frustration she slammed her head against her pillow several times. "Should've… resolved… last… night… last… night" she said, punctuating each word with a blow. A bitter feeling formed inside her as she tried to force the recent memory away. _'I'll make it up to him tonight'_ she thought. With a resigned sigh she leapt off the bed and trotted downstairs. She was slightly surprised to see Patchwork lounging on the couch, an old game controller clutched in her hooves.

"Morning Patch" she muttered

She replied with a grunt which could vaguely be translated into a greeting, she was too focused on the game to properly respond. Deciding to ignore the fact that her daughter was playing games when she was supposed to be being punished, Dash stomped into the kitchen and hastily made something which could be passed off as something resembling breakfast. Clutching the plate of food in her mouth she walked back into the other room and lay down on her back next to Patch. Patch glanced up from her game at her mother. "Aren't up going to get up me for playing?" she wryly remarked.

"Nope." Dash said as she chewed

"Mum, you're sitting funny again, like that weird aqua mare."

"Bite me." Dash said shrugging.

Dash looked up from her sorry excuse of a meal at the game her daughter was playing. A happy memory surged through her as she recognised the game and more specificly what she was playing on. Setting the barely palatable meal aside, she slid off the couch and bent down to get a better look at the slightly dusty console on the floor.

"Where did you find this?" she asked turning back to look at Patch.

No response.

Rainbow cleared her throat.

Still no response

With a frustrated sigh she flicked the small bump she remembered was the power button into the off position. She glared at Patch

"Hey I was winning!" she protested.

"And I was talking to you, you pillock." Rainbow shot back. Patch crossed her forelegs in and glared back. "I asked, where did you find this?"

"What does that even mean?"

"Huh?"

"Pillock?"

"Somepony who is not very smart" Dash quoted."Maybe if you expanded your mind a bit you'd learn a thing or two."

"Egghead." Patch taunted, a smirk appearing on her face.

"I am not am egghead… I am well read!" Dash replied back, using a line Twilight had used many years ago. "That's beside the point though, where did you find this?"

"Attic. I was bored and I found this old thing while I was looking around." Patch said, seemingly annoyed her gaming session had been interrupted for such a trivial question.

"Never realised we still had this" Rainbow said, prodding the jet black console with her nose. "I have some very fond memories with this…" she trailed off, lost in thought.

"Care to share?" Patch said, not really interested but hoping if she kept her mum amused, she could turn the console back on.

"Well there was this one time, about five years ago I think…" Rainbow trailed off. Patch moved a hoof up to her head and mimicked a shooting action before throwing her head back with a sigh.

"Yeah, five years ago. I had only really just started dating…" she hesitated for a moment. "Y-your father. We'd just had the best night out. I mean it, it was amazing." Her eyes gleamed with excitement. "He'd taken me to one of The Patrouille's aerial shows…"

"The Who?" Patch interrupted

"No not The Who, The Patrouille" Dash snapped back.

"Yeah, who is The Patrouille?"

"Oh, right…" Rainbow flushed red in embarrassment "The Patrouille are the national Griffon flight team, they're like the Wonderbolts but… well… their Griffons."

"Oh… Never heard of them…"

"Really?" Dash was genuinely surprised. "They are one of the oldest flight teams around; they were doing shows before the Wonderbolts even existed. If they do a tour in Equestria sometime I'll have to take you to see them, they are absolutely amazing. Even better the Wonderbolts" She admitted grudgingly.

Patch's jaw dropped open, for her mother to be admitting that someone or something was better than the Wonderbolts was unheard of.

"Anyway, he had just flown me home after the show, it was pretty late and he was just about to leave. I managed to convince him to stay the night though."

"How did you do that?" Patch asked

"You know… Males." Rainbow said. Waving her hoof around in a circular motion.

"Wait do you mean… like… um… uh…" Patch said, a dirty thought springing into her head.

Rainbow enjoyed the mixture of horror and awkwardness that suddenly appeared on Patch's face. She tried to keep a straight face but failed after Patch let out a tiny whimper.

"The look on your face! Priceless!" Rainbow struggled between fits of laughter. "There was none of that. We stayed up until sunrise playing games on this damned machine, I won every game." Rainbow stated proudly.

"You sure he didn't just let you win?" Patch asked. She winked playfully at Rainbow before springing of the couch and turning the console back on.

"Whatever" Rainbow mumbled, returning to her half-eaten meal.

* * *

After cramming down the rest of the meal, Rainbow sped out to start her morning weather patrol. Her initial enthusiasm was quickly exhausted.

Kick cloud. Move cloud. Kick cloud. Move cloud. The cycle itself repeated itself endlessly, a boring task which seemed to last ad infinitum. This coupled with the occasional bitter thought from last night's argument made Rainbow Dash lose her grip on reality. The morning seemed to melt together into one big blur of white cumulus and blue sky.

'Assessment of life: Initiate' she thought robotically _'Relationship with husband: Currently patchy with chance of storm. Job satisfaction: Rock bottom is an understatement. Life dream: Currently on hold.' _Her curiosity was aroused by the last thought. She decided to delve deeper. _'My dream… my desire in life… The only thing I ever wanted… Join the Wonderbolts… How did any of this happen? A psychotic Pegasus, a jealous Wonderbolt, husband, kids, and a child of said psychotic Pegasus? Where the hell did they come from? Why can't my life just be simple for once?' _She scowled as she bucked another cloud. _'And why the hell hasn't Soarin put me back on active duty yet? Surely if he cares so much about being a fatherly figure and whatnot, Soarin would be happy to look after the kids himself. Instead, he's off with them while I'm stuck in this dead-end job.'_ She angrily bucked another cloud, turning it into a fine mist. _'I just want to fly with the Bolts again. I've had enough of the slow life.' _She concluded. A small amount of resentment against Soarin suddenly forced itself into her mind. She fluttered to a stop for a moment as she tried to untangle her thoughts. Deciding that it would be too difficult, she moved to another cloud and bucked it roughly in an attempt to vent some of her frustration.

"OW! Son of a-" A voice yelled out.

The sudden sound pierced the haze that surrounded Rainbow's mind. Snapping back to reality, she looked around for the source of the noise. A burgundy coloured stallion with a jet black windswept mane was sprawled over the cloud. An ugly splatter of blood covered his nuzzle and the surrounding cloud.

"Dammit, sorry!" Rainbow gushed. She swooped in front of him to inspect his wound. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah no thanks to you." He growled. His dark green eyes swivelled around and fixated on her. They widened with surprise. "D... D… Dash? Is that you?" he rasped.

Surprise flashed across her face. Her eyes fell on the stallions toned flank.

"Scar?" she asked, a look of shock appearing on her face.

* * *

Soarin plodded wearily through the Wonderbolt's HQ. The few Wonderbolts on base and the support staff respectfully kept their distance, the large bags under his eyes and the way a sliver of drool ran down the large stack paperwork clutched in his mouth was enough to get across that he didn't need any more to think about. After the fight last night, Soarin had been plagued with insomnia. Unable to sleep, he had left home and gone to the HQ in hopes that working would clear his mind. After filing through a few leave forms, a transfer request and an infraction report involving fireworks, smoke generators and an outhouse, he felt no different. If anything the monotonous paperwork had worsened his already foul mood. Entering his spacious office, he hurled the stack of papers he was carrying carelessly into a corner and laid his throbbing head on his desk gently. "Something… for the pain." He uttered lifelessly. He pulled the top drawer open to reveal a picture of Rainbow Dash. "Ok anything besides that." He growled, slamming the drawer shut again with a loud thud. Grimacing, he opened the drawer again; the picture still stubbornly remained though. "I hate you so much right now." He snapped to the desk. As if it heard him, the drawer suddenly slammed shut on its own accord. The faint sound of a lock clicking came from it. "That's new." Soarin remarked dryly.

'_Great now even my desk hates me'_ he thought giving the apparently sentient furniture a solid kick.

"If you're done harassing your furniture…" A rough voice said from the corner. Soarin fell off his chair in surprise. Picking himself up, he peeked cautiously over the edge of his angry desk. Seated in the corner of the room, behind another desk was his number two, Juggernaut.

"Celestia, you scared me Jugs." Soarin remarked embarrassedly.

A coy smile appeared on the large pegasi's lips. "I try my best." He looked Soarin down. "You don't look well. Problems?"

"I have a better question, how the hell did you get that desk in here?" Soarin remarked looking at the monstrous desk the Vice-Capitan was behind.

"That's for me, Torchie and Rapid Fire to know, and you to find out." Juggernaut stated wryly as he nonchalantly inspected a hoof.

"Alright, what do you want?" Soarin said after a moment of silence. He wasn't in the mood for goofing around.

"Firstly, I want to know what's wrong with you and Secondly, I have something you might want to have a look at." He threw a newspaper at Soarin.

"That's private." Soarin scolded as he looked down at the paper.

The headline caught Soarin's interest immediately.

'**ESCAPE FROM EQUESTRIAN MENTAL INSTITUTE'**

'_Last night caretakers at the Equestrian Mental Institute were shocked to discover of one of their patients missing. The patient in question is the former Wonderbolt Capitan, Spitfire, who was institutionalised several months ago after suffering a complete mental breakdown. The former Captain's mental state had been deteriorating over the course of several years leading up to her admittance to the facility according to the Head Warden._

_If seen, citizens are advised to contact the relevant authorities. Do not under any circumstances approach the patient. A city wide search for the escapee is underway but has so far been unsuccessful. More on this story can be found on page 5'_

"This is bad isn't it boss?" Juggernaut asked worriedly as Soarin looked up from the article.

"You have no idea. Alright, I want you to round up team two, take them out and help in the search. If you don't find anything in a day, get team one and three out as well."

A flash of surprise crossed Juggernaut's face, the Wonderbolts usually would occasionally assign a team to assist in large searches but sending all _three_ teams out was unprecedented. "Pardon me asking boss, but why?"

"I don't want her to find me first" Soarin said, remembering the promise he had made several years ago. Seeing the look of seriousness on Soarin's face, Juggernaut backed away slowly.

"Alright I'll get right on it boss."

"Keep me apprised Jugs."

"Will do." The burly Pegasus said, throwing Soarin a salute.

Soarin nodded in thanks as the vice-capitan trotted out. _'Could this day get any worse?'_ he thought.

* * *

"Scar?" Dash asked again. The burgundy pegasi nodded once, still clutching his bleeding nuzzle.

"But… but… how?" Dash asked flabbergasted. "You died!"

"I got better." He said wiping his hoof clean on the cloud, turning the white fluff a vivid pink.

"But you died!" Dash said, overcome with emotion.

He sighed. "It's… complicated."

"Like hell it is." She said. She swooped down on him and gave him another fierce blow across the head. She shot back up into the sky and glared down at him, hooves crossed. "If you didn't die, why didn't you come back? We had something special… Do you know how much it hurt me when you died!" Rainbow practically screamed. Her response caused Scar to shrink back.

Scar looked around nervously; he wished he could have been anywhere else right now. "I'd thought you'd be happy to see me." He said ruefully.

"EIGHT YEARS. Eight years, Scar. You could have done something. A letter, a picture. But no, nothing. Why didn't you tell me?"

He stammered for a moment before he said anything else. "Because I loved you, I wanted to keep you safe." He gushed.

"Safe? Safe from what?" she yelled back.

"The feud. The damn stupid feud. That's why I 'died'" Scar said softly. "If I had come back, they might have found me… They might have found you. There was no way I could let that happen." He stated.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa… slow down… They? The feud? What in the name Equestria are you on about?" She looked at him confusedly.

"I don't w-." he started.

"Tell me!" she yelled. "I wasted Celestia knows how long hoping you'd come back. I was hurting. I deserve to know."

Scar sighed "Fine. The feud. Oh boy… the feud. The most stupid conflict in Equestrian history. It started many generations ago, my family against theirs." Rainbow looked to interrupt him but he held up a hoof to silence her. "It was harmless at first, a challenge if you will. But it turned ugly. Quickly. Within two generations, blood had already been spilt. An 'accident' of course, but it somehow got worse. Revenge was taken, grudges were held and soon enough, the whole escapade turned _really _violent. The two sides keep apart now… mostly." He added. "Nopony really knows why it's still going on; it's just been drilled into us since birth. The whole idea that 'they're the enemy, don't trust them'."

"Then why are you here?" Rainbow asked

"To get away from it all, I just wanted to live a normal life, enough of the hiding and the sneaking about, enough of the fighting and the squabbling. Ponyville is a long way away from it all."

"Who are 'they'?" Dash asked exasperated.

"I'd rather not get you involved. If I told you… you'd probably do something you'd regret." Scar responded.

"Please?" Dash asked

"No." Scar said resolutely. "I'd rather keep you out of this."

"Fine." Dash shot back, glaring daggers. Her gaze eventually softened as a rush of emotions and memories from years ago came flooding back. She gave him a rough hug. "Celestia, I've missed you so much Scar." She said

Scar's face softened and a pleased expression appeared over his face. "I missed you too Dash. Maybe we can catch up some other time? You seem to busy enough at the moment." he said winking at Dash suggestively. She blushed fiercely in response.

"I'll take that as a yes." He purred. He gave Dash a gentle nuzzle before flying off.

If it were possible, Dash's blush intensified.

"But… But…" she stammered long after he had left.

'_My life gets more complicated by the day'_ she thought, wiping a small smear of blood off her cheek.

* * *

"Let me get this straight… Somepony from your past who thought had died suddenly shows up alive and well claiming he's been in hiding for the last eight years due to some sort of family feud, is now back and living in Ponyville." Twilight asked incredulously.

"You missed the bit where I punched him in the face." Dash added, vigorously stirring a hot drink Twilight had seemingly procured from thin air a few minutes ago.

"Right, of course, how could I forget?" Twilight remarked snarkily. "Do you know how clichéd that sounds?"

"Cli-whated?"

"Cli-shayed" Twilight said again, pronouncing it phonetically. "It sounds like something out of a book I read. How do you even know this guy anyway?"

"Well… We kind of… had a thing a while back…" Dash said rubbing her hoofs together awkwardly; she rarely talked about her past before she came to Ponyville for good reason, _it hurt._

"A thing?" Twilight asked obliviously.

"You know…? A thing…" Dash said hoping the still socially awkward unicorn would pick up on her vibes. She sighed in frustration and placed her head on the library table.

"I still don't get it." Twilight said obliviously.

"How the heck did you ever get laid, in fact, even get a boyfriend let alone get married Twi?" Rainbow said, her voice muffled by the thick wood.

Twilight scowled. A faint glow appeared around her horn as she levitated Dash's head off the table much to the cyan pegasus' displeasure.

"Explain how you know Scar."

"It's long, complicated and-." Dash started.

"The story Rainbow!" Twi yelled

"Jeez, calm down Twi," Dash admonished "I meet Scar a long time ago. I was just a filly the first time I met him..."

* * *

_Time suddenly shifts in Equestria, flinging the reader back many years._

* * *

"Rainbow Dash! Pay attention!" the teacher scolded. He slammed a heavy book down on his desk causing the Rainbow-maned filly to jump slightly. She loathingly turned her head away from the window and gave the teacher her best glare-that-still-looks-angry-but-won't-put-me-in-detention glare. She had been busy dreaming about flying, like she always did when the teacher had noticed her daydreaming.

"If you don't want to be kicking clouds for the rest of your life pay attention." the teacher snapped.

"Old cow" Dash muttered under her breath. A little too loud maybe she thought as the teacher suddenly whipped around, his eyes bulging slightly.

"That's it! Get out! Go to the Superintendent's office. _Now_!" he yelled.

Dash shrugged nonchalantly and trotted out of the class, a few snickers emerged from the other fillies and colts as she slowly walked out the class. Slamming the door loudly behind her, she casually walked through the deserted corridors. Even if she knew where it was, she had no intention of actually going to the superintendent's office_. 'I could go do some flying'_ she thought excitedly. The thought of diving and loop through the sky sent a chill down her spine. Her thoughts were interrupted by a door being flung open. A pair of colts was thrown out and the door slammed shut again. Both had dark green eyes but besides that, they were radically different. One had a jet black mane and a burgundy coat while the other was a pale blue, perhaps a few shades lighter than Dash and a navy blue mane. Neither surprisingly, had a cutie mark. The two glared at each other for a moment before they threw themselves at each other with a snarl. Rainbow watched on with a morbid fascination. 'Bluey' gained the upper hand and landed a blow which caused the red one to cry out in pain. The door they had been thrown out of opened again and the teacher broke the struggling pair apart again.

"You, office now." He said sternly to the blue one. He looked at the red one sprawled on the ground.

"You, help him." He said.

Dash looked around surprised, expecting to see somepony else.

"Come on, you, one with the Rainbow mane, help him up and get him to the nurse." The teacher said again, helping the groggy pegasi to his hooves.

"Uh… yes sir." Rainbow said back deciding this was not a moment to be rude.

She wrapped a leg around the colt, careful to avoid the gash on his face and the large marks on his body from where the other colt had hit him.

"Where's the nurses office?" she whispered to the colt.

"That way." He said pointing down the hallway.

The pair walked through the again quiet corridors an occasion grunt of pain coming from the colt as Dash helped him along.

"You new here?" he finally asked, breaking the silence

"Yeah, I just started last week."

"You too old to be a first year." He said looking her down.

"I'm not." Rainbow said blushing slightly. "I was kicked out of the last flight school so now I'm here."

"That sucks." The colt replied. He lapsed into silence again.

"I'm Scarlet Rain, but everyone calls me Scar." He suddenly piped up.

"I'm Rainbow Dash."

"Your name suits you." He said looking her down. "Beautiful mane," he remarked "Never seen one like it before."

Dash blushed; she wasn't used to receiving compliments from boys.

"Thanks." She squeaked.

"So what are you out of class for?" Scar asked

"I called the teacher an old cow." Dash muttered

Scar grinned mischievously. "Most of the teachers are."

Dash's eye's opened wide. "You really think so?"

"Yeah. Definitely." He pointed at a door a few meters away. "That one there."

Dash nervously walked up to the door and rapped on it several times. A white Pegasus promptly opened it and looked down at the pair before her. She gave Scar one look before shaking her head.

"Not again Scar…" the nurse muttered.

"It wasn't my fault this time, honest!"

"It never seems to be…" the nurse muttered, she disappeared for a moment and returned with a bundle of bandages. She expertly treated Scar's wound and wrapt it tightly.

"Now you can run back along to class Ms." She said to Rainbow, I can look after him from here.

"Actually I'm supposed to be showing her around." Scar blurted out. Rainbow gave him a curious look but decided to play along.

"Yeah, umm… Yeah! Scar was showing me around. I'm new here."

The nurse looked between the pair; Rainbow was sure whatever Scar was planning was going to fail.

"Of course, carry on then." The nurse said obliviously

"Thanks Ms." Rainbow said, concealing her surprise.

The nurse smiled at them again and closed the door, leaving the pair out in the corridor.

"What was that for?" Rainbow asked Scar.

"I figured you didn't really want to go to the superintendent, and I sure didn't want to have to." He smiled mischievously. "Besides, she'll believe anything."

"So what now?" Rainbow said kicking the ground awkwardly.

"Do you want to go outside? May as well enjoy ourselves while we're out of class eh?"

Dash shrugged, she was not averse to spending more time with this new colt. He seemed cool enough. "Sure, sounds good."

The pair stealthily worked their way to the large doors that led outside, once there it was a simple matter of flying outside without anyone noticing them. Away from the confines of the school, Dash relaxed a little.

"Hey wanna race?" Scar asked.

"Yeah! I'm the fastest Pegasus ever, just warning you before you lose." Dash said, a confident smirk growing on her face.

"Alright… You see that tree there?" Scar said pointing at an old tree several hundred meters below them. "First one there wins."

"It's on."

The two pegasi hung in the air, both eager in anticipation.

"Three"

"Two"

"On-"

"Go!" Scar yelled shooting of the mark.

"Hey no fair I wasn't ready!" Dash yelled as she powered after him.

"There are no rules, it's everypony for themselves." Scar crowed a few meters ahead of her.

"Oh yeah?" Dash said gaining on him. "How about this?" she slammed into his side.

"You wanna play rough eh?" Scar replied, crashing into her slightly less gracefully. The impact entangled the two, causing them to crash into the ground. Coming to a stop, Rainbow shook her head and glared at the colt now lying on top of her.

"I was so going to win." She proclaimed.

"Whatever." Scar said examining his hoof.

"Mind getting off me?" Dash huffed, trying not to notice how close he was to her.

"Oh right… sorry."

He rolled off her with a small grunt of pain. They stared up into the sky, the school a few kilometres distant.

"You're cool." Scar suddenly said.

"I know… You're not too bad either."

"Maybe… Maybe we could hang out more?"

"That'd be nice; I don't really know anypony here."

Scar craned his neck over to look at Rainbow. "Friends?" he asked, extending a hoof towards her.

"Friends." Rainbow said, a small smile appearing on her face.

* * *

_Let's do the time warp again!_

* * *

"So you just crashed into him and you became best of friends?" Twilight asked taking a sip from her cup.

"More or less…" Rainbow said. Her gaze flicked around the library. Nothing caught her attention though so she returned her attention to Twilight.

"Seems a little weird… And who was the colt Scar fought?" Twilight asked.

"No idea, I never saw the kid again. I wasn't at that dump for long before they kicked me out anyway."

"Ok… So now this guy is your friend? Like your best friend?

"Scar was more or less my only friend. I mean, I met Fluttershy back then but she was older than me, and not really cool to hang out with. Scar was the only one who ever really wanted to hang out with me anyway… I had a pretty depressing childhood."

"So how come none of us have ever heard about Scar then? He was your best friend for how long and you never even mentioned him to any of us."

Rainbow let out a long sigh. "I try not to think about when I was younger. Too many painful memories."

"If you don't want to ta-." Twilight said friendlily.

"No, it's alright." Dash said with determination in her eyes. "Gotta get it out sometime."

"Well then what happened?" Twilight asked, curiosity written across her face.

"We grew up, Scar joined the family business, whatever that was and I started with the weather patrol. We had some good times; we saw each other almost every day. It got better… but then it got worse." Dash said her eyes starting to watering slightly.

* * *

_It's just a jump to left, and a step to the riiiiight!_

* * *

Dash lay back in grass with a sigh. After a hard day of clearing up several unscheduled storms, she was happy to lie back and have a break. Propping herself against the tree she and Scar always met at, she looked up at the bustling city above her, trying to see if she could spot the burgundy stallion before he arrived.

"Hey Dash." a voice said from next to her ear.

She yelped and jumped up in surprise, she turned to see Scar hanging from the old tree grinning like an idiot.

"Scar! How many times do I have to tell you to stop doing that?" Rainbow asked embarrassedly, she hated it when he managed to sneak up on her.

"394 times and counting." He said dropping out of the tree with the grace of a flying whale.

"Smart arse." Dash said flopping back into the springy grass.

Scar lay next to her and the pair chatted sedately for a few minutes about how their respective weeks had been. Scar laughed as Rainbow told him about how some ditzy mare had gone on a cloud shaping spree and had remade an entire shipment of clouds into muffin shapes.

"And how about your week Scar?" Dash asked

"The usual. Family business this, family business that." He said sourly

"Sounds boring."

"It is…"

He lapsed into silence, caught up in his own thoughts. He turned his head over to Dash.

"Can I tell you something Dash?"

"Of course you can, that's what friends are for right?" she looked back him confusedly.

"Yeah… sure… I just… I mean… I-I just really w-wanted to say this for a long time… but… I-I just haven't had…" he stammered nervously.

Rainbow silenced him with a hoof. "You don't have to tell me, I know."

His eyes nearly bulged out of his head. "Y-you do?"

She nodded.

"And?" he asked nervously.

"I'm happy for you. It's normal for stallions to get a bit curious about it, heck I know I've wondered about it sometimes…"

Scar looked at her with confusion. "Are we ta-."

"I'm so glad you finally admitted it though, I was wondering when you would come out of the closet." Dash said ignoring him.

"What?"

"That's what you were going to tell me right?

"N-no… And just for the record, I'm not gay."

"Yes you are."

"No, I'm not…"

"Don't be stupid, of course you are. Come on, I've known you for what… forever… I see you practically every day and not once, have you shown any interest in a mare, ever." She said finishing her argument. Scar blushed vividly, he rubbed the back of his head awkwardly for a moment.

Dash looked at him with confusion for a moment before the penny finally dropped. Her eyes widened. "Oh… OH!" she said finally realising; her jaw fell open in surprise.

"I-I should go…" Scar said embarrassedly, he took off in a flurry.

"Wait, Scar come back!" Dash yelled, taking off after him. "Scar!"

* * *

_With your hands on your hips, you bring your knees in tight!_

* * *

Twilight snorted with laughter. In her merriment she fell off her chair and started rolling around on the floor. "And… and… you think I'm clueless!" she managed through her fits of laughter.

"Yeah, shut up." Rainbow said, unimpressed by the unicorn's reaction.

Controlling her laughter, Twilight managed to haul herself back up to the table. "Alright then what?"

"Well, one thing led to another and we ended up dating. Still don't how I was so oblivious to it. Mind you, I don't think I'd ever seen Scar so nervous before… Now that I look back though, you don't suppose that anything to do with the fact that I would beat up any stallion who said he liked me?"

"Not at all, I fail to see how that could at all be a turnoff." Twilight said managing to keep a straight face.

Not picking up on her friend's little jab, Rainbow continued. "So yeah, we dated for a while. About half a year later I found myself living with him. I can't really remember how we got to that point though…" She trailed off.

"And then…?" Twilight asked.

"Everything fell apart." Dash said flatly.

"How, it sounds like you two were happy together."

"He died." Rainbow said her voice cracking with emotion. "We'd been together for such a long time. Years. Yeah we didn't have heaps of money, yeah we didn't have the nicest place, but we were happy. Happier than I am now." She said sullenly.

"What happened?"

"Just one day he didn't come home. And the day after, and the day after…" Rainbow's eyes started watering as the painful memories came back. She sighed. "A few days later a pair of the provosts popped around and told me he'd been killed in a terrible accident, a rock slide or something. His body was never found." A tear ran down her cheek as she finished the story.

"That's terrible Rainbow." Twilight said sympathetically. She gave her friend a gentle squeeze. "Have you ever told anypony?"

"Never, you're the first to hear it."

"What about your parents?"

"My dad was a drunkard and abandoned me and mum… and my mum died a year after I started dating Scar." Dash said softly, tears starting to flow more freely as she relived the painful memories.

"Oh my…" Twilight said. "I'm sorry, I never knew."

"Nopony ever asked. I have a rough past. I prefer not talk about it."

"You haven't even told Soarin any of this?"

"Never." Dash admitted.

"But things are better now Scar's back yes?"

"No… it's worse." Dash said breaking down into tears.

"Aww Dash, come here." Twilight said pulling Rainbow into a hug. She remained there for several minutes comforting her distraught friend.

"Sorry Twilight…" Dash said wiping a tear away. "I don't usually break down like that."

"It's ok to cry Rainbow, I don't think any less of you for it."

"You don't?" Dash sniffled.

"I would never." Twilight said, smiling back.

"Thanks Twi…" Dash said placing her head back down of the now wet table.

"Thanks ok… Now what's wrong? I thought you'd be delighted to see Scar again."

"I am… but… But I mean, I never really ever forgot about him. I moved on sure, but he was always at the back of my mind. We were always so happy together. I suppose I never really got over his death… and now he suddenly pops back into my life wanting to start again."

"What about Soarin though?" Twilight asked concerned.

"Well… Things aren't going to well with him at the moment. We're in a bit of a rough patch right now."

"You don't mean to say-" Twilight started.

"No. I could never do that to him. But…" she sighed explosively. "What am I going to do Twi? Scar doesn't know that I'm married or have kids. I can't leave Soarin and get with Scar, that's against the very element I supposed to represent and I've also got my kids to think about. But the way things are going with Soarin, there isn't going to be much left to stay around for."

Twilight looked at her curiously. It occurred to Rainbow that she didn't know about what had happened the previous night.

"We had a fight last night. It got pretty ugly… I said some stuff I shouldn't have said and so did he… We didn't even forgive each other… I didn't even get a chance to talk to him this morning." She slammed her hoof down on the table in frustration. "And when I was clearing the clouds today I couldn't help but feel angry at him. All the things he's screwed up, all the mistakes he has made… I couldn't get it out of my head. I just feel this whole thing is starting to crash and burn" she imitated a large explosion with her hooves. "So what do I do?"

"I wouldn't so easily give up on Soarin." Twilight said "Try to work things out. Forgive and forget. You still love Soarin don't you?"

Dash rubbed her temple. "Yeah, I guess."

"Then you know what to do."

"Yeah… I guess… thanks Twi…" Dash mumbled. She looked up at the clock hanging from the wall. "I should get going… Lots to do, not enough time to do it." she turned back to her friend. "Thanks Twilight, I really appreciate it." she wiped her face to remove the evidence that she had been crying.

"Any time Dash." Twilight said

Dash opened the door and left the library, lost deep in her thoughts.

Seeing her friend leave the library, Twilight took up a quill and a parchment. After thinking about what she had learnt from the encounter, she wrote a short letter.

_Dear Princess Celestia_

_Today I learnt my friends are complicated._

_Your Faith student, Twilight Sparkle._

* * *

Due to her prolonged talk with Twilight and the arrival of a large rogue storm cell, by the time Rainbow got home, the sun had set and the moon was already high in the sky. Dark spots still scared her vision from the sudden and unexpected flashes of lightning that had erupted from the storm. Yawning she opened the door, slightly surprised to see Soarin asleep on the lounge, Patch curled up next to him and Star with his head against his father's chest. Gently, so she wouldn't wake them up, she picked up Patch and Star and moved them to their own beds. After tucking each one in, she went back down to Soarin who was still obliviously asleep. He lay down next to him, pressing up against his warm body. "Soarin." She said giving him a gentle poke in the ribs.

"What?" he mumbled irately, he opened an eye. He examined Dash sleepily. "Where have you been, you're soaking wet." He said matter of factly.

"Deal with it." Dash shot back tiredly. "Big storm, lots of rain, lots of lightning. Took a long time to clear." She yawned and shook herself off, covering Soarin in a fine mist of water.

"You woke me up to say that?" Soarin moaned.

"No I woke you up to say sorry. Things got a bit heated last night… I don't know why I got angry. Forgive me?" she looked up at him with a hopeful face.

"You're forgiven provided you don't wake me up again." He muttered, draping a leg over her.

Dash kissed Soarin lightly. "Thanks big guy."

"You're welcome" Soarin mumbled nuzzling her gently.

"Anything interesting happen today?" Dash asked.

"Umm… No… Nothing." Soarin lied. "Yourself?" he asked

"Dash blushed slightly. "Umm… nothing, nothing at all."

"Mmm... Dash… I won't be able to go on Star's trip…" Soarin said, yawning loudly.

"Oh, ok." Dash said a little disappointedly. "Why, what is it?"

"Nothing important." Soarin said

Dash felt a small surge of frustration bubble up but decided now was _not_ the time to let it out.

"Whatever." She muttered closing her eyes.

"Goodnight Dash"

"Night"

* * *

That was a bit of slog yes?

Now... Scar, Scar, Scar. He was a bit of a thing that I added in on a 'what the hell' moment and really grew on me, so I hope you like him. I want to delve more into his past and the feud, so again, stay tuned. I bet some of the more savvy readers can see where this going.

As to why he 'died' or who the feud is, conspire away!

As for Spitfire/ Crazy cat lady, I'm not entirely sure where I'm going with her but I'll figure something out.

I am nearly free of the shackles of uni (Two exams left!) so I will probably be able to write more soon.

Please leave a review if you are so inclined, I've received some great ones of late (One took me a good hour or so to fully digest!) so thanks a ton guys/ girls/ sentient organic/ non-organic life forms.

Any questions, queries, quibbles, requests, death threats, stalker mail, criticism and virtual (no real ones tanks) Molotov cocktails can be sent to me via review/ PM. I do read them all.

Until next time.

Later!

Killbles.

P.S. I don;t own 'Lets do the time warp again either'!


	3. Secrets and Lies

ERHMAHGERD! UPDATE!

Another chapter for you! Thanks to you awesome people who have read and left reviews/ favourited/ subscribed. I have only one more exam until I'm free from uni! So... Yeah. Awesome. There maaay be a update for 'On a wing and a rainbow' (OAWAAR from now on.) sometime this week, but don't count on it, I have to urge to roll out a small chunk of it at a time rather than go chapter by chapter.

Also we have a cover image now! Thank you very kindly to Omgklint (Deviantart) for allowing me to use his vector.

Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter and without further ado, I shall end this A/N

**Disclaimer: Does anyone even read this? Yes? Well I don't own this stuff. Hasbro does okay?  
**

**Cover Image owned by Omgklint  
**

Now, read on!

* * *

**Chapter 3: Secrets and Lies**

"Camping! Camping! Camping!" Star bubbled enthusiastically. He bounded in circles around Dash as they walked through the marketplace together.

"That's great Star, you can say camping." Dash said, resisting the urge to bind and gag her hyperactive son.

"Aren't you excited mummy?" he said. "We can stay up late, tell scary stories and roast Rarities over the fire!"

Dash did a double take at the last one. "Wait what?" she said stopping mid stride.

"Can't we toast Rarities?" he asked innocently.

"We don't toast other ponies champ. That's just wrong."

He pulled a disgusted face. "Eww, why would we want eat other ponies. That's disgusting mum, why would you think of that?"

"You said toasting Rarity! Rarity is a pony. Rarity is one of my friends!" Dash said flustered.

Star stared blankly off into space for a moment before looking confused. "Isn't that a rarity?" he said pointing at a bag of marshmallows on display at a nearby candy stall.

Dash blinked twice. "That's a bag of marshmallows Star." She said bluntly. She leaned in close. "I can see how you'd confuse the two though." she whispered in a conspirative manner.

Star giggled.

Returning back to the task at hand, Dash pulled a crumpled sheet out of her saddlebag and read down the list of supplies they required. After a few hours of shopping, she and Star had managed to purchase almost everything they needed. "Just need a thermos for you and we're done" Rainbow announced in a pleased manner. Shopping was not something she enjoyed. As she jostled through the crowd she felt as she was being followed. A flash of crimson in the corner of her eye gave her follower away. Turning around, she was met with the sight of Scar about to pounce on her. His eyes widened slightly as he realised he'd been caught. He flashed an innocent smile.

"Hey Dash." He said innocently.

"Scar." She said curtly. "You weren't about to surprise me now were you?"

He looked around. "Me? Surprise you? Never."

"How many times do I have to tell not to do that?" She asked, remembering too late that he would take it literally.

"Well if I remember correctly… 568 times. It has been eight years so… give or take one or two."

Dash groaned.

"And who's this?" Scar said, craning his neck down to look at Star. Who by now, was cautiously peering out from behind Rainbow's legs.

Rainbow flashed red for a moment. "This is my son, Shooting Star." She looked away as Scar's eye's bulged. "Star this is my old friend Scar."

"Nice to meet you." Star said timidly from behind his mother. Scar looked with fascination at the young colt.

"Hey Star how about you go grab yourself something yummy, I want to have a chat with your mum." Scar said fishing a few bits out of his own coin bag. Star glanced at the shiny coins cautiously before looking up at Dash with a mixture of confusion and excitement.

"Go on, take em." Dash said. "Get yourself something nice. You deserve it."

"Thanks mister." Star chirped. He took the few bits and galloped off.

Scar watched him disappear into the crowd. "You didn't say you had a son." He remarked.

"You didn't tell me you were alive." Dash shot back.

Scar deflated slightly. "Sorry…"

"It's alright, just don't do it again." Dash remarked sardonically

An awkward silence passed between the two.

"So… What's going on?" Scar said in an attempt to end the painful gap in the conversation.

"Shopping."

"For?"

"Camping trip."

"Am I invited?"

"N- Actually…" Dash trailed off as a gear in her mind started turning. _'Soarin can't go, why not have Scar come along. It would be good opportunity to catch-up with him.' _She thought

'_But what about if he tri-.'_ Another voice said

'_He's a friend, nothing more'_ she assured herself.

"Actually… why not. It should be fun and it would be a good opportunity to catch up."

Scar's eyes lit up. "When and where?"

"Tomorrow afternoon near the schoolhouse. There will quite a few of us so good luck missing the crowd."

"I'll see you then" Scar said "I should go get my stuff sorted out, see you tomorrow."

He took off in a blur before Dash could even say goodbye.

* * *

Come on mum! We'll be late!" Star yelled as he galloped ahead of Dash. Even laden down by a pack nearly the size of himself, he still moved surprising fast.

"Not on my watch!" Dash yelled. Taking flight she quickly caught up to her son and plucked him off the ground and whizzed through the clear sky. Flying several meters off the ground with her son grasped between her fore hooves, Rainbow Dash sped through the town, electing a few cries of surprise from ponies below. Adjusting her speed so as not to miss the approaching target, Dash scanned the small crowd for familiar faces. Not seeing any particularly familiar faces, she flared her wings bringing her to a complete stop a small distance away from the group. Dropping the windswept Star from under her, she softly touched down.

"See, told you we wouldn't be late." She boasted.

"That was awesome mum!" Star cried. "Can we do it again?"

"Not now champ, need to conserve my energy. Besides, you can fly pretty well yourself."

"Yeah, but not as good as you."

"Practice makes perfect." Dash said ruffling his mane. He pulled back before she could ruin his miraculously still sleek mane.

"Mum!" he whined

"Yeah mum, don't do that." A voice came from behind her cheekily.

"I'm not your mother Scar." Dash said without turning.

"Yeah, she's not your mummy." Star said looking suspiciously at Scar. "How does Mum know you? She said you were an old friend. But how old?"

"I would have been your daddy kid, but the dog beat me over the fence." Scar said raising an eyebrow at Dash.

"Huh?" Star said, his small face wrinkled up in confusion.

"It's a joke Star." Dash said quickly.

"I don't get it."

"Good, now run along and tell Ms. Cheerilee we're here."

"Um, okay." He said, rolling his heavy pack his back off before setting off to find his teacher.

"Not funny Scar." Dash snapped after Star was out of earshot.

"Sorry." He muttered. Any further conversation was made impossible by Cheerilee clambering on top of a small box and ringing a small bell to gain everyponys attention.

"Fillies, Colts and parents. Thank you for being here. Now that everypony is here, if we could get started. Firstly I wish all of you campers to have a fun, safe and enjoyable time out there this weekend. Secondly, I would like to thank the parents who have volunteered their time to take the children out on this trip; we all appreciate your commitment." There was a light smattering of stomping. "Now without further ado, let's get underway, I'm sure you're all so excited to get started!" She hopped down from the crate and put her own pack on. She turned from the crowd and trotted out of town. "Follow me everypony!" she called out. A small group of colts and fillies trailed after her, the vast majority of the parents only there to see them off.

"Hey mum, what's up with his flank? It looks all funny." Star asked appearing next to Rainbow Dash. He struggled to put his heavy pack back on.

"I don't know. I saw it the other day but I didn't bother asking." Dash said, helping Star with his pack.

"Oh… Ok." He finally managed to remount his pack. "Come on Mum!" Star said excitedly, his curiosity about Scar's flank vanishing in a flash. "Let's go!" he ran after the group, jostling with Midnight to get to the front of the small column.

"I suppose we'd better get after him." Dash said turning around to face Scar. Much to her surprise the crimson stallion was nowhere to be seen. Looking ahead she noticed somehow he had gotten to the centre of the group and was already talking animatedly with a few children she didn't recognise. Shrugging she hefted her pack and set off after him.

* * *

"And then I said, well I didn't know he played the violin!" Scar finished. The small group of children walking around him let out a collective giggle at Scar's wit. Dash smirked as she walked alongside, listening to the somewhat exaggerated story. Being prone to exaggerating her own tales of awesomeness, she was very good at spotting such things in stories that other ponies told. She decided to let Scar have his fun though. His story had grabbed the attention of most of the campers and had taken their minds off how heavy their packs were and how much their legs hurt after hours of walking.

"Umm…Scar…" One of the colts nervously asked. "I was kind of w-wondering… If you don't mind telling… What happened to your cutie mark?"

A sudden hush descended upon the group. While all of them had noticed his flank when he had joined them, nopony had gotten the nerve to ask about it. Dash's ears pricked up curiously. She too, had instantly noticed when she had first run into him but hadn't wanted to ask.

"A war wound," Scar said solemnly "from fighting a fight that shouldn't have even happened in the first place." He turned his head to flash a quick look across at Dash. "A fight that cost me the best thing in my life."

Dash blushed lightly and looked away. _'Just a friend, just a friend, just a friend…_' she thought in her head.

"C-can I touch it?" the colt asked again.

"If you want to." Scar said back. "Won't hurt too much, most of the nerves are dead."

The colt nervously reached a hoof out to touch his flank but withdrew it at the last moment.

"Actually, I think I'll be fine…" he drew away slightly from Scar but kept flashing looks at the stallions flank.

"It's not something I think you kids would want to know about." Scar said.

A few quiet murmurs or agreement came from the assembled children.

Dash kicked the ground in disappointment and made a mental note to ask him about it later. She sighed and looked around, taking in the scenery. The wide open fields that surrounded Ponyville had given way to the somewhat dense deciduous forest that was Whitetail Woods. She could hear the faint gurgling of a stream in the distance and guessed that were probably not far from the campsite. Her assumptions proved correct when the forest suddenly stopped and she stepped into a circular clearing about fifty meters wide. A few large logs were arranged around a well-used fire pit and the stream she had been hearing cut into the far edge of the clearing. Although she was not normally one to appreciate the natural world, she thought the site was quite serene.

"Alright everypony, we're here!" Cheerilee said from the front of the group. "We've only got a couple of hours of daylight left so if I can get all of you setting up your tents first please?" The twenty odd campers spread out and starting erecting their shelters. Dash, Scar, Cheerilee and the other three parents went around and helped the children set up first before moving onto their own tents. By the time all the tents had been set up and all the gear moved inside, Orange and pink streaks had started to appear as Celestia's sun moved towards the horizon.

"Dash, Scar, would you two mind collecting some firewood?" Cheerilee asked as they finished laying their gear out.

"Sure thing" Scar said back, crawling out of his forest green tent. He trotted towards the tree line. "Coming Dash?"

She threw a subtle glare at the back of Cheerilee's head before she clambered gracefully out her tent. "Yeah on my way."

Trying to ignore Scar's happy face, the pair set off towards the forest.

* * *

Silence sudden fell as the two entered the forest; the trees seemed to soak all the noise from the campsite up.

"So…" Dash said as she picked up a few dry sticks. "What happened?"

"Huh?" Scar asked, stopping mid stride. He ruffled his feathers as light breeze suddenly blew through the copse of trees they were in.

"To your cutie mark." Dash added, gesturing at his flank.

Scar looked her seriously. "Dash, I'd rather not tell. It's a bit… Jarring."

"Look Scar." She said with a hint of anger. "Whatever it was, I'm sure I can deal with it."

"Really?" he scoffed.

"I was abducted, raped and beaten by a Wonderbolt with a split personality a few years ago. Beat that."

Scar's jaw flopped open. He wordlessly worked it up and down for a moment. "I'm sorry." He managed.

"Don't be, you had nothing to do with it."

"I could have been there. I could have stopped it."

"But you chickened out." Dash shot back.

"I didn't chicken out." He snapped back. "I did it for our good."

Dash scoffed. "Our good? I hardly see how it did me any good." She threw her fore hooves in the air, sending a small shower of sticks back into the undergrowth. Now are you going to tell me what happened? That's quite a war wound."

Scar huffed in irritation before relenting. "Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you."

He threw another stick on a pile he had made.

"It happened the day I left. It is what prompted me to actually fake my death." He smiled ruefully "Wasn't too hard to do…"

* * *

_The speed of the text reaches 88 miles per hour, sending the reader back into the past._

* * *

Scar wheeled a large cloudbank and scanned the sky. _'I think I lost them'_ he thought. Looking around he saw no trace of his pursuers. He had been on a routine delivery from his parent's shop to one of the families outlying properties when a trio of Pegasi had appeared and start harassing him. Suddenly a large shape appeared from above and behind him and smashed into him, sending him hurtling towards the ground. He swore loudly, again he had forgotten to check his blind spot.

Splaying his wings out, he managed to regain control of his chaotic descent. A pair of pegasi shot past him, not expecting him to recover so rapidly from his stall. He felt like he was missing something as he watched the two attackers pull out of their dives and then regain altitude. _'Damn there's a third one!_' he reminded himself just before he was hurled violently into a large cloud by his final opponent.

Coughing violently, he tried to get up but was pinned under the hoof of his third assailant.

"So… Scar. We finally meet." He said in a smooth yet dangerous voice. "You're the one who wants all this to end." he chuckled. "We have a special connection… from this feud of course, but one that is perhaps a bit deeper." He pressed down harder. "We want the same thing. Do you know that?"

"We do?" Scar asked back confused.

"I want this feud to end just as badly as you do youngling, but unlike you who wants to sue for peace. I won't stop until every last one of you is dead." venom dripped from his words. Scar, still face down, tried to squirm out of his hold.

"Ah ah ah. No getting out. Not until I've had my fun. You see, I have a bit more of a vendetta against you Scar." He moved closer, his breath hot against the back of Scar's neck. "I've heard that you've been sleeping with my niece. Now I don't like that. Not. One. Bit."

Scar's eyes widened. _'Damn, damn, damn, damn' _he thought desperately looking for a way out.

"Oh I bet that makes you feel really embarrassed, the idea that I'm riding her all night. How does that make you feel?" Scar taunted, a risky idea forming in his mind.

"Angry, Scar." The blue pegasi holding him down spat.

"Oh well you shouldn't want to hear what I did to her t-"

"ENOUGH," the Pegasus roared, lifting Scar up by the scruff of his neck. Scar was met by a pair of angry maroon eyes. "You have no idea what I will do to you and to... her." He snarled, his vivid mane jumping around as he raged at the Scar. A small grin appeared on his face as he imagined the world of pain he was about to but the burgundy pegasus through.

"Hey thanks." Scar said suddenly.

"For what?" The blue Pegasus asked, a look of confusion replacing his smug grin.

"For getting off me." Scar said with a smirk. He kicked upwards, using his wings to give him a small boost. The blow connected with his captor's rib cage with a loud crack as his ribcage caved in. Howling in pain, the Pegasus dropped scar and fell backwards. A small spar of bone erupted through his flesh with a spray of blood. Turning to face the other two pegasi, Scar dodged the first ones clumsy blow before countering with a powerful uppercut which sent him sprawling. He wasn't quite fast enough to dodge the second's strike which clipped his ribcage with a dull thud. Crying out in pain as at least one rib cracked, he fell into the cloud. He curled up into a ball as he pummelled mercilessly by his final opponent. By a stroke of luck, he managed to roll with the third blow and regain his footing. His opponents surprise was evident as Scar swept his legs out from underneath him and knocked him out cold with a vicious punch to the face. As he stepped backwards he felt a sudden spike of pain as something sliced open his flank. It was replaced by the most unbearable pain he mad felt as a chunk of flesh was ripped off. Spinning around he was confronted by his original attacker, his face now stained with Scar's blood, his teeth were firmly clamped around Scar's flank. A Savage roar was spewing forth from the blood covered Pegasus as he tried to tear another mouthful of flesh off. Recovering from his revulsion, Scar lashed out with his good leg, dislodging the insane pony from his flank. He limped over to the dazed pegasi "Don't you dare threaten Dash again." He growled.

"Go to hell." He wheezed. Scar could tell his lungs had been punctured when his ribcage had broken, the blue pegasus's breaths were becoming shallower and more forced.

"You first." Scar spat as the colour drained from his opponent's eyes. Limping towards the edge of the cloud, a massive wave of dizziness overcame Scar. When he turned and looked at his flank, he almost fainted. A large chunk of his flank had been ripped off by the savage bite. Over half of his cutie mark was missing, replaced with a rough bleeding crater. Grimacing, he inspected the wound more closely. Luckily it wasn't deep enough to reveal any bone, but if he didn't get it treated quickly, he would bleed out. Almost blacking out from the pain, Scar spread his wings and flew as fast as he could away from the battleground.

* * *

_Great Scott! A lightning bolt delivers 1.21 Giga Watts of power to the story, sending you back to the present._

* * *

Rainbow stared at Scar with a horrified look on her face.

"_It was bitten off?"_ Dash asked horrified. Revulsion was written across her face

"Yes. I warned you it was pretty nasty." Scar said. He threw a look back at the ugly hunk of flesh missing from his flank.

"How did you survive?" Dash asked in awe.

"I was close enough to a small village to get help. It was a close one though, another few minutes and I would have been a goner. It took a while to heal and after that, I went to ground. Didn't tell anypony what had happened. One day I just bolted."

"Wait a minute... Something you said…" Dash thought for a moment. He face screwed up in concentration as she tried to recall the glaringly odd piece of information he had said. "You said he threatened me…But…"

Scar's eyes widened as he realised that may have said too much.

"D-Did… Did you say that he said I was his _niece_?"

"Shi-."Scar uttered, realising that he had no way out of this. "Um, Yes…" he said quietly looking away from the flustered mare.

"Me? His niece?"

Scar remained silent

"Scar! Explain! Please!"

He sighed explosively. "You're his niece … Were his niece." He corrected

"But that means he was my uncle! And if he tried to kill you because of this feud…" She trailed off as she realised the implications. She scrambled back from Scar.

"Get back! Stay away!" she whimpered. Scar remained motionless.

"I'm not going to hurt you Dash."

"But… the feud?" Dash asked, keeping her distance.

"Yes, my family has a blood feud against yours." Scar snapped "Do you think I enjoyed fighting it though? If I had ever wanted to kill you I could have done it a long time ago."

"But… I've never heard of this before! I've heard of a feud or anything!" Dash protested, realising that while unpleasant, Scar had a point.

"You were lucky. Your mother ran away with you before you were born. Your father was furious apparently. She saved you from ever learning about it. And that is why Dash, I have no quarrel with you." He paced in front of her.

"I thought… he abandoned us…." Dash said slowly.

"A lot of what you know about your past is probably lies. Lies to keep you safe. To keep you out of the stupidest thing in Equestria."

"Then what about us? Huh? I'm your enemy," Dash said angrily. "Was what we had real or was it just a fake. Was any of it even real?" She yelled.

"Dash, you have to believe me. After years of pointless bloodshed, I was sick of the feud. When I found out who you were, I thought I could help bridge the families. Put aside our differences. I was wrong… But what I felt for you was genuine. I loved you Dash. I still do. I staged my own death that day so that they couldn't find you. I hid for eight years, watched as the families tore themselves apart. After the dust had settled, most of us were dead. Most of your family was dead. It was at that point the feud stopped. There was no one left to fight it. I was a coward, I hid. But I did it for us okay?" he looked at Dash with pleading eyes. "You have to believe me."

Dash looked at him. Everything she knew about him had just been turned upside down and thrown out the window. Regardless of that, she still trusted him. He had never lied to her before, why would he start now? She reached out and placed a hoof on his shoulder. "I believe you Scar."

"Thanks." he said quietly. "Sorry."

"For what? Telling me the truth?" Rainbow asked quizzically

"Yes."

"The truth hurts sometimes." Dash said rubbing him gently on the back. "This changes nothing between us. I had no love for my father before and this doesn't change that at all. If he wants to fight some stupid feud, I want no part in it."

"Really?" he asked hopefully

"Yeah… And Scar?"

"Hmm?"

"Thanks. Thank you for telling me."

He grinned slightly as Dash gave him a friendly hug.

Rainbow released him and started to collecting up the firewood, when she turned back she was surprised by how close Scar's nuzzle was to hers.

"Dash…" he said softly. "Do you still like me?"

She gaped silently for a moment as her head suddenly churned with thoughts, dangerous thoughts. _'Just a friend!'_ a voice screamed in her head.

"I-I… I-" she whispered. She looked into his sad eyes. An incredible amount of loneliness seemed to be held in the two green orbs. He waited expectantly for a few tense seconds before he lowered his head, let out an unhappy sigh and turned around. He proceeded to silently pick up the large pile he had gathered.

"Come on Dash let's go. The others will be wondering where we are."

* * *

Any sympathy for Scar? Any? Any at all? Not really? Lots? *Shrugs* Who knows?

Conspicuous lack of Soarin in this chapter is noted. Don't worry he'll be featured in the next one. Speaking of that, next update might be a little while as I have my final exam in a week or so and I am working on OAWAAR a bit, so stay tuned. I don't really have much else to say so I'll wrap up it up there.

As always, thanks for reading this (depending on your opinion terrible - good) chapter. Please leave a review if you feel so inclined, I'd love to hear from you. As usual, an questions, queries, quibbles, death threats, stalker mail, suggestions, ideas, etc. are welcome to be sent via PM or review. I do read everything.

Until next time.

Later!

Killbles


	4. Don't chase the squirrel kids!

*Leaps out from behind monitor* Bit of a gap there wasn't it?

Me being me (I.E. Lazy and master of procrastination) and a lack of motivation is to blame for the short hiatus, but never fear for a new chapter is here! I could have made it longer... but... eh... I'll save it for the next one.

Bit of a mix of PoV's in this chapter compared to the last one, time does jump around a teeny bit (It's not strictly linear) but if you use that grey matter of yours, you should fairly easily understand what's going on. Anyway I'll leave it at that, I WILL SEE YOU AT THE FINISH! *Rabble rabble rabble*

**Disclaimer: I don't own MLP:FiM, Hasbro does. I also don't own my brain any more. The internet does.**

******Cover Image owned by Omgklint**

**Now, read on!  
**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Don't chase the squirrel kids! **

Soarin messily devoured his breakfast, sending a shower of crumbs and assorted foodstuffs to the floor. Patch threw him a disgruntled look at him from across the table where she was eating slightly less rabidly.

"Do you really have to go today?" she asked pleadingly, setting her food down.

"Yes, it's very important." He said firmly.

"But it's the weekend, and you said you were going to spend time with me!" she protested banging her hoof down.

"Sorry darling but I can't, it's important!" he insisted

"Important enough that you haven't told anypony else?" Patch asked accusingly. A flash of irritation flashed across Soarin's face at her incessant probing.

"Can you just leave it Patch?"

She jumped up angrily and snorted. "No! I want to know why you think that everything is more important than me! You've hardly been home for the last few days and mum is off camping with Scar. I hate being left alone! You said you wouldn't work this weekend!" she yelled. "You promised!"

"Sorry Patch, but I have no choice."

"You always have a choice." She growled.

"When you're older you'll know what I mean, we can't always do what we want. I have my responsibilities to the Wonderbolts and I, as their captain, have to uphold them."

"You know what? Screw you dad! You're never here when I need to be. I hate you!" Patch yelled. She reached into the fruit bowl in front of her and threw a tomato at Soarin in anger. The unfortunate fruit let out a dull squelch as it exploded against Soarin's face.

Soarin visibly winced. "Go to your room. Now."

Path growled in frustration but obediently stomped out of the room. A few loud crashes came from the hall before her door slammed shut.

Soarin sighed as he washed the tomato off his face. "I just don't know what went wrong." He muttered before scoffing down the rest of his meal. Walking towards the door, he paused for a moment, his paternal instincts telling him to go talk to Patch. Trudging reluctantly back towards her room he paused outside the door before knocking.

"PISS OFF!" she yelled angrily. "I don't want to talk to you!"

Ignoring her, Soarin nudged the door open gently only to recoil in surprise as a heavy book slammed into the wall just in front of his face.

"I said go away!" Patch yelled her voice choked by tears. "I hate you!" Soarin wordlessly retreated from the doorway and left the house with a heavy heart.

"She'll come to… eventually." He assured himself as he powered through the early morning sky.

* * *

"Morning sir." Juggernaut piped as he entered Soarin's office. He looked Soarin up and down. "You look like hell. Again."

"Thanks." Soarin said bluntly.

"More family issues?" Juggernaut inquired.

"You remember Patch? Rainbow mane, bit over-zealous. She was at the last Hearth's warming eve party."

Juggernaut nodded.

"She got a bit emotional this morning, typical for fillies of her age… Know what I mean?" Soarin mumbled, running a hoof through his mane.

"Not really sir, I don't have kids of my own."

Soarin snorted. "It's rare for any one of the Wonderbolts to have kids before they leave the team. Too hard for them to stay committed to the team and to their kids…" he let out a hollow laugh. "Now I see why." He let out another laugh. "And there are two of us! I barely have enough time to spend with Dash, never mind my kids."

Juggernaut was momentarily surprised; Soarin never talked much about his personal life openly. "I'm sorry to hear that sir."

"Don't be, there's nothing you can do about it.' Soarin said waving a hoof dismissively.

"It's not your fault it's all starting to fall apart." He laughed again morbidly. "Come on, I'll buy us a drink and tell you all about the great life of Soarin the Wonderbolt! It's not like I can do anything else right." he exclaimed sarcastically. Juggernaut shuffled his hooves awkwardly and remained silent. A sharp knocking came from the door.

"Enter." Soarin barked dropping his enforced demeanour. A young member of the administrative staff walked in, a bunch of letters clutched in his mouth.

"Mail for you sir." He said aware that he was probably interrupting something he'd get fired for if he ever caught wind of it.

"Just leave it over here thanks." Soarin muttered motioning to his desk. The pony walked as fast as he could over to the desk, dropped the small stack off and retreated from the room.

"Bit early for a drink isn't it sir?" the burly Pegasus asked once the door had slammed shut.

"Never too early for a drink Jugs." Soarin said moving towards the door.

* * *

The small bar dingy bar just off premises was virtually empty, a few pegasi dedicated to their drinks were slumped in the corners and ignored the two newcomers. A few more sober ones were clustered around a grimy table playing some variant of poker. Apart from the occasional murmur or raucous laugh, the bar was quiet.

"Nice place you've got here." Juggernaut mumbled quietly to Soarin.

"It's small enough to avoid attention. Drinks are dirt cheap as well." Soarin explained.

Directing Juggernaut to an empty booth, Soarin walked over to the bartender, spoke a few harsh sounding foreign words and returned with a pair of grimy glasses and a bottle of clear liquid covered in strange Cyrillic markings. Soarin uncapped the bottle and poured a reasonable amount into each glass.

"What's this?" Juggernaut asked giving the drink an experimental whiff. He recoiled as the strong drink burnt his sinuses.

"It's vodka, very potent as you just found out." Soarin said with a hint of amusement. "Pony over there is from the far north. They like their drinks strong there." He threw back the glass in a single draught. "Bottoms up…" Soarin muttered wiping his mouth.

Following his captain's example, Juggernaut threw the glass back and drank. He gagged as the strong drink burnt his throat.

"Why did you drag me down here again?" he asked, fighting back tears. "Hope it wasn't just to get drunk."

"To complain about how screwed up everything in my life is." Soarin mumbled, rubbing the rim of his glass with a hoof. He looked mournfully at his now empty glass.

"Shoot." Juggernaut wheezed trying not to cough from the fire like drink running down his gullet.

Soarin poured a respectable second helping of the strong liquor into his glass before continuing. "The last year. That's when it started getting bad with Dash… with everything really. Little squabbles here and there. You know what I mean right? Nothing really serious. You know, just little things. Like not putting things away or not being ready for this or that. Normal stuff." He paused to examine a smudge on his glass before quaffing the liquor down in a single gulp. "Then things started changing. Patch started getting in trouble more often, I was home less because of… this." he gestured down at uniform he was wearing. "Star, bless his little heart didn't seem to notice. Always happy and cheerful but Dash… She started losing it a bit. I'm not sure if it was the fact she had been away from the Wonderbolts for so long or whether the stress of having two kids had started catching up or if we were doing something wrong. I don't know. Maybe it was a bit of all three. But we started drifting apart a bit. I saw her less often and when I did see her, we always seemed to be arguing over something. There were a few moments that we were happy together but everything else just seemed miserable." He poured another glass but didn't drink it. Instead her stared deep into the clear liquid as if he would unravel the answers to life, the universe and everything if he stared hard enough.

"It was mostly about the kids. We both thought we should be raising them differently. I always wanted to be a bit stricter than Dash, she would never want to punish them for anything. Something about when she was young or some shit is how she justified it. Always wanted them to grow up without us." He groaned. "We managed a compromise but it was strained. We loved each other but I think we could both feel it pulling apart at the edges. No matter how hard we tried, nothing ever seemed to work out. I was like world didn't want us to be together. And then just a few days ago, we had this fight. And you know what she did?"

Juggeranut shook his head.

"She pulled the lowest thing out on me. Said that I had no say in my daughter's upbringing because she wasn't even mine. I raised her. I cared for her. I love her. That's a good a reason as any." Soarin mumbled. "Just because I'm not her real father means nothing."

Juggernaut's eyes widened in surprise. He leaned in close. "Patch isn't your biological daughter?" he asked, sure that Soarin had gotten his facts muddled up.

"No she isn't. She belongs to that stupid bastard Silver. Remember him?"

"Yeah he joined with Dash and Torchie… How the hell did that happen?"

"Well turns out he was a total wacko. Night of the gala he abducted Dash, beat her up a bit and raped her. Princess sent him to the moon. He deserved worse." Soarin growled, already slightly inebriated from the strong liquor.

"That's horrifying." Juggernaut breathed.

"You're telling me." Soarin grumbled gulping down his third glass.

"Shit…" Juggernaut said leaning back. "And you guys just lived with that?"

"Yep. And now Patch hates me. How could this get any worse?"

"She doesn't hate you…" Juggernaut said supportively.

"She threw a damn book at my head this morning. And a tomato." He added.

"It could be worse." Juggernaut said helpfully. "Dash could be cheating on you. Or Patch could have thrown two books. Family should always be able to forgive and forget."

"You are not helping." Soarin snapped. "I blame myself. You know that? Now that I think about it. I'm the one who messed up. I'm the one who was never there. I'm the one who was always wrong." He slammed his hooves down the table attracting the looks of a few of the other patrons. They quickly returned their attention to their game, dismissing his behaviour in favour of their cards. "I blame it on this." Soarin said, tugging at his uniform. "I hate it so much. Everything it's done. Pulled my family apart. Nearly killing me. Damn it. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it!" he yelled pulling off his tie viciously and throwing it down on the table. He placed a hoof on his temple and rubbed it gently.

"Woah boss. Calm down." Juggernaut said. "I think you've had a bit too much too quickly. It's getting to your head." He reached out to grab the bottle but Soarin snatched the liquor away and poured another glass for himself.

"I'm fine" Soarin lied. His anger had vanished and was replaced by a look of self-loathing. He slumped back into his chair and stared down into his glass. The two pegasi were quiet, each content with their own thoughts.

"I wish everything wasn't so messed up." Soarin whispered. "I just want it to work. For everything to be simple. Just for once." He took a sip of his drink. "I've already lost one pony I loved to this job, and now I'm losing another. Maybe I should just quit. Hang my wings up and leave."

"Already lost one?" Juggernaut asked, eager to find out as much as he could about the normally reserved pegasus. He didn't enjoy probing Soarin for information, but his curiosity overwhelmed his usual discipline. Soarin glared at his drink, painfully aware that the alcohol was loosening his tongue. He considered lying but concluded in his slightly reduced mental state wouldn't come up with a convincing one. He snorted in amusement. "I had a thing for Spitfire a while ago. I really liked her. Now that I think of it though I think it was more like 'friends with benefits'. She had no genuine interest in me. I think. At least if she did, she didn't show it." Soarin briefly considered that he shouldn't be talking to Juggernaut about Spitfire, but that thought was quenched as he downed another mouthful of the potent liquor in his glass. "Anyway, something went wrong though and she ended up getting pregnant. We managed to cover it up amazingly well and she gave the foal away as soon as it was born. Something I wasn't happy about. I really wanted to be a father. Good thing she give it away, turns out I'm rather shit at it."

"How did your job cause that to fall apart though? Sounds more like a disagreement between two ponies rather than the job." Juggernaut asked, not quite believing that his former captain and vice-captain had done the dirty deed together.

"You really think she would give up flying for the Bolts for a child?" Soarin asked. "A child would have ended her career. The press would have a field day and she'd be out faster than a barrel of cider at an Apple family reunion. I was thoroughly ticked off that she put her career before her offspring. We never quite saw eye to eye with her after that."

"As is happening to you now." Juggernaut remarked.

"Dash made sacrifices. I didn't. Again, it sounds just like me, never thinking of anyone but myself." Soarin said depressed. "I'm a damn hypocrite. Hating Spitfire for abandoning our child and here I am doing the same."

"And I guess this is why you're so desperate to find Spitfire right? Some shred of you cares for her enough that you want to find her right? Help her out or something?" Juggernaut asked hopefully.

Soarin laughed loudly. "No, I want her to be found before I find her. I hate her; hate her with every fibre of my being. If I saw again I'd kill her. Snap her neck and be done with it. She has messed up far too much of my life for me to get any forgiveness from me."

Juggernaut stared blankly at him.

"Holy shit." He muttered after some time.

Soarin mumbled unintelligible back and slumped further into his chair. He reached out to pour himself another glass but Juggernaut managed the grab the bottle before he could grasp it. Soarin scowled at Juggernaut.

"Look, having a few drinks is well and good but when somepony starts having murderous thoughts when they hit the booze, that's too far." Juggernaut said sternly. Soarin pouted abashedly as Juggernaut took the half-full bottle back to the bar tender. "You need to come back to base and get your head screwed on straight." Juggernaut said when he returned. "Come on." He gestured towards the door.

"No."

"Don't make me…" Juggernaut threatened.

"Make me." Soarin said gruffly.

"Okay. Don't say I didn't warn you. Sorry, but it's for your own good." Juggernaut sighed and lunged towards Soarin. Before he could even react, Juggernaut had delivered rough blow to side of his head and knocked him out cold. His head crashed down onto the table sending the two glasses flying. A few yells of surprise came from the other patrons as the glasses shattered across the floor.

"Warned you…" Juggernaut said to the now lolling Soarin. Sighing he placed the captain over his back and walked out, throwing the bar tender a few extra bits on the way out.

"Sorry about the mess."

* * *

"Omf!" Dash cried out as she was tackled to the ground by a mixture of colts and fillies.

"Dash over here! I'm open!" Scar yelled out as he ran along the field. Before the ball could be taken from her, she threw it to Scar. He expertly leapt into the air, caught the ball and ran off with it, a small trail of younglings following him. A few shouts of protest and squeals later, he too had been tackled into the mud by the apparent horde of children. "Alright, alright! We suck at football." Dash said, shaking herself off as the kids cheered. "Well at least we do when it's two against about twenty!" A few of the other parents laughed from the sidelines of their impromptu field. They had for various reasons chickened out of playing. In retrospect though, having an extra few players probably wouldn't have helped their chances much.

"Dinners ready eveypony!" A cheerful voice called out from amongst the tents. A sudden clamour came up from the children as they forgot the game and jostled amongst each other to get dinner first.

"Dash, think fast!" Scar called out.

Whipping around, Dash expected the ball to hit her but was pleasantly surprised when a soft dry towel fell over her head instead.

"That was a rubbish throw." She complained pulling the towel off her head.

"Better than your last one." Scar snickered

"Hey, you take that back! I was swarmed by a horde of kids!" she protested slugging him hard on the shoulder.

"You're calling three a horde? I was tackled by the rest of the team!"

"Close enough, near enough." She muttered. They set off at a more sedate pace towards the camp fire. A few streaks for pink were lighting up the sky as the sun inexorably drooped towards the horizon. Dash looked at Scar out of the corner of her eye. Despite all the drama the previous night, he had acted like nothing had gone between them. If he was hurting, or happy, he wasn't showing it. Dash had expected the day to be awkward around him, but Scar hadn't brought up the previous night's conversation at all. Instead they had preoccupied themselves with taking the kids on walks and exploring the nearby woods. After a quick lunch, they had ventured down the creek to discover a small lake where the children spent the afternoon swimming and splashing. Naturally, by this point Rainbow had found a cloud high enough to avoid any mischievous ponies and had taken, in her opinion, a well-earned nap. A brief spell of heavy rain had forced them back to their tents and muddied the bare patches in the open clearing. Dash shivered as a cool breeze blew through the clearing, after playing the football game she was plastered with mud and grass. She pulled the towel around her a little tighter.

"Cold?" Scar asked, drawing a little closer.

"Yeah, a bit." Dash replied. A few loud shouts reached their ears as the colts and fillies tucked into their meals with gusto.

"Hey Dash, can I talk to you for just a sec?" He said motioning with his head away from the messy jumble of tents where dinner was being noisily served and consumed.

"Could it wait until after dinner? I'm starving."

He sighed a little disappointedly. "Sure I guess."

"Thanks." She said, giving him an approving smile. She let out a silent sigh of relief as her desperate play to get more time worked. She wanted to know what her feelings were before she talked to Scar.

Dinner seemed to last an eternity, the soup that one of the parents had made was delicious and Dash was reluctant to finish it off to talk with Scar. She noticed that Scar was more reserved than usual, keeping away from most of the kids and throwing at her glances every now and then. Dash thought she saw Star and two other colts sneak off into the night but when she looked again, there was nothing. After dinner had been eaten and a few of the more tired campers had gone to sleep, Dash approached Scar. "You wanted to talk? Let's talk."

"Thanks, I've wanted to talk to you all day but I just couldn't with everypony around. Could we go somewhere a bit more… private though? There's a rise just through the woods there which should be mostly dry."

Dash shrugged as calmly as she could. Inside, she was a little apprehensive. She wasn't worried about what Scar might do or say, but what about she might do. Her thoughts had lingered on his question from the previous night and the conclusion she had arrived at while eating dinner frankly worried her. She knew, being the element of loyalty, what she _should_ do, but that's not want she _wanted_ to do. She faced a moral dilemma unlike one she had ever faced before. Do what was right and ignore the feelings she had for Scar or do what she wanted and reciprocate the feelings she felt for him. Putting her indecisiveness aside she announced she was going to bed and left the small camp. Once she was beyond the perimeter, she flapped her wings and met Scar who was already airborne above her and glided over to the large hill which Scar had mentioned after dinner. They flopped down to the grass on their backs and stared up at the clear night sky. The only sound was a light breeze rustling the leaves in the trees and the chirps of crickets. A few loud chitters came from a large tree further down the hill. She imagined she heard a soft thump of something hitting the ground but dismissed it. They were alone.

"So…" Dash said awkwardly after a few minutes had passed. "What did you want to talk about?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

Scar sighed softly, happy that he hadn't had to break the uncomfortable silence.

"Look Dash, I apologise for doing what I did last night… I understand if you've moved on. Eight years is a long time. It was wrong of me to come back into your life and expect for you to welcome me back with open arms." He looked over at her. "I am really sorry, it was stupid of me."

"It's alright." She whispered, resisting the urge to rub her wing against him. "No big deal." she managed to say without her voice breaking.

"Dash are you alright?" Scar asked, wriggling a little closer to her.

"I'm… I'm fine." She mumbled. Inside her head, a battle of epic proportions was being fought as her morality battled her desires. She scowled at her conflicting thoughts.

Scar blinked several times. He could tell she was lying but decided not to pursue the issue. He looked back into the night sky, his gaze lost in its vast inky depths. Hundreds of pinpricks of light dotted the heavens. A small trail of light whipped through the sky as some piece of space debris burned up in the atmosphere.

"Dash…" he started but was quickly cut off by Rainbow

"I like you Scar." She blurted out suddenly "I really do. I like you a lot."

* * *

Star slinked through the open forest silently, Midnight and one of the colts he had met on the camp, Rust, followed silently behind him. During dinner the young colt had seen a squirrel crawl out of one of the tents with a large bag of lollies. He had quickly rounded up to the other two colts and set out to catch the furry thief and take his ill-gotten spoils for their own.

"You sure it went this way?" Rust whispered scanning the ground with his bright blue eyes.

"Sure I'm sure." Star whispered back.

"Why are we whispering?" Midnight asked

"So we don't scare the squirrel you silly."

They had emerged from the forest again and started climbing a large hill when the faint sound of munching reached their ears.

"See told you!" Star said throwing himself to the ground. He pointed a hoof up at the lone tree near the bottom of the rise. In one the upper branches, a squirrel could be seen happily munching away on it's newly acquired treats.

"Rust, you reckon you can get it with some of your magic?"

"Umm… I dunno… I can try I guess." The colt concentrated, a faint shimmering aura appeared around his horn as he focused on levitating the bag out the squirrel's paw. A sharp chittering followed by a quiet squeal of surprise as the inexperienced spell caster's spell told hold on the squirrel rather than the bag.

"Rust, you got the squirrel not the bag!" Midnight said quietly.

"Huh? What?" Rust said back, his concentration broken. The squirrel let out another cry of surprise as the magic aura around it vanished and it fell to earth at Rust's hooves. It chittered angrily at the three of them before scampering off into the night.

"Hey where's the bag?" Rust asked

"Still up in the tree, let's go get it!" Star whispered, flapping his wings. "Last one up there is a rotten egg!"

"Hey that's cheating, we don't have wings!" Midnight complained quietly.

Star poked his tongue out at him and landed on the thick branch. After a small amount of scrambling and climbing the two unicorns joined him.

"Share em around." Rust protested.

"Hey guys, what's that?" Midnight asked, cheerfully munching on a sweet.

"Where?"

"Over there on the top of the hill, about a hundred meters away. Something just landed up there." he pointed.

"Dunno… Looks like a pony… Two ponies actually." Rust said returning his attention to the much more interesting lolly bag.

"Hey Star, that's your mum!" Midnight whispered as the figure on the hill moved, revealing a rainbow mane under the moonlight.

"Who's she with?" Star asked peering intently, the lollies momentarily forgotten,

"Can't tell… Kind of looks like Scar… Looks like the right colour. Bit hard to tell though. "Can you see his flank?" Star asked.

"Too far away."

"Hold on, these could be useful." Star said pulling a small pair of binoculars out of the equally small bag on his hip.

"Why do you have binoculars?" Midnight asked curiously

"I thought it might help us find the squirrel…" Star mumbled as if made perfect sense to be carrying a pair of binoculars at all times.

"Whatever, give them here." Midnight said.

Star handed his friend the binoculars and looked intently over at the hill top.

"Yeah that's definitely Scar. It's pretty dark though, good thing the moon is out or we could see anything." Midnight whispered, giving Star the binoculars so he could look. Star peered through the binoculars and confirmed that the stallion on the hill was Scar. The ugly chunk of flesh missing from his flank was obvious.

"But what would they be doing out here?" Star asked.

"Hey guys… Lollies… Right here… Much better than spying on your mum." Rust reminded them, his mouth full of the tasty treats.

"Shush!" Midnight and Star said together.

"What?"

"We don't want them to hear us!" We're not supposed to be out here." Midnight whispered.

"Oh right." Rust said before munching on another lolly. He suddenly looked up dumbly. "Wait… who?"

* * *

"Wha… You do?" Scar was slightly taken aback. He looked up at the night sky, slightly surprised but happy.

She nodded silently.

"I… I like you to Dash." He said turning to look at her. It was his turn to be surprised by how close she was to him.

"I know." She whispered before leaning and kissing him gently on the mouth.

"Hey what are they doing?" Star asked as the gap between the two figures closed

* * *

"They're doing somethin… wait… _are they kissing_?" Midnight said, making a soft gagging sound as he watched through the binoculars.

"Eww…" Rust said quietly. "Doesn't he know you get weird stuff from kissing girls?"

Midnight spun around and looked him dead in the eye. "What about you mum?"

"She doesn't count."

"She's a girl." Midnight countered

"That's different!" Rust protested crossing his hooves.

"Shut up you two." Star intently watching on in horror. "Why is my mum kissing Scar?"

"Why would we know?" Midnight asked, turning back to face the unfolding spectacle.

"Can we get out of here? Please? I don't want them bumping into us. We're lucky enough they haven't heard us." Star whispered, he started to unfurl his small wings but was stopped by Midnight.

"If we go now, they'll see us. We've got to wait till they are gone." He said

"Damn." Star whispered, trying to focus on the tree branch rather than his mum.

"Hey Star!" Midnight whispered urgently, hitting him lightly to get his attention. "I think your mum is crying!"

* * *

Scar's eyes widened at the pleasant, but unexpected move. The kiss lasted for a few wonderful seconds until Dash suddenly pulled back, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Dash? What's wrong?" Scar asked concerned.

"I can't Scar! I just can't! I want to but I can't!" she sobbed quietly. She hid her face so he wouldn't see her tears. "Damn it why is this so hard? I know what I want but I just can't do it."

"It's okay Dash, it's okay." He said, embracing her gently to try and calm her down.

"No it's not! I'm a terrible pony Scar." she wept quietly.

"What's gotten into you Dash? Tell me please." Scar said soothingly. He let her go and looked into her eyes. "Tell me, Please. What's wrong?"

"I'm married Scar! I have a husband. And I love him. He might be an idiot and insufferable sometimes and we might fight all the time and not get along perfectly, but I love him. I shouldn't be having these feelings for you Scar! It's wrong! I shouldn't but I am. I want to be with you and love to you, but I can't… I just can't… I can't love two ponies at once…" she sobbed.

"You're married?" Scar whispered softly.

Dash nodded again.

"Then forget me, leave me before you break his heart."

She shook her head, a sniffle escaping her as she calmed down a little.

"I don't want to break yours" she said back "I don't want to lose you Scar. Not again."

He sighed, realising the predicament she placed herself in. "I understand. I don't want to lose you either." He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, I really am."

"Don't be, it's my fault this is happening."

"No it's my fault. I should have never come back."

"Of course it is. It's always your fault" Dash joked, an element of her usual personality coming back.

Scar laughed softly. "You sound better already. What do you want to do then? Go back to the camp?"

Dash shook her head. "I don't want to leave yet Scar. I just want to be here with you."

"Dash, you're married. You can't do this." Scar pointed out.

"I want to be with you Scar. Just for tonight" Dash said with growing confidence as her desires overpowered her morality. "It might feel bad on my conscience but I don't care. I want you right now."

"Dash, how does this do anything in the long run? You'll go back to husband feeling you've betrayed him and you'll have to love him knowing that I'm here as well."

"Scar. Shut up." Dash said quietly. "I know what I want and I don't care about the consequences." She laid her head on his chest and cuddled up next to him, a pleasant warmth radiating from his body. She stayed there for a few moments before rolling over and perching herself on top of Scar. "Besides, you'd be lying if you said you didn't want me Scar."

"You've got a point there." He purred, staring lustfully into her magenta eyes.

"Then kiss me." She whispered seductively.

"My pleasure." He said, pulling her head down and kissing her passionately.

* * *

Star felt a cold chill run down his spine as he watched the show on the hill. He couldn't quite place a hoof on it, but something felt wrong about it. Really wrong.

"What about daddy?" he whispered. "You're supposed to love daddy." He handed the binoculars to Midnight, he wasn't sure if he wanted to watch this.

"This is weird. I kinda want to stop watching but I can't." Midnight whispered gazing intently at the two locked ponies on the hill.

"Dude, that's disgusting." Star said shaking his head, he was wishing now that they had never gone after the squirrel.

They watched with a mix of horror and fascination for several minute as his mum and scar became more animated.

"Eww.. What in Equestria are they doing now?"

"I don't know, but whatever it is, it looks like it should be illegal. I think I once walked in on Mum and Dad doing something similar." He shook his head, "Never explained what it was though." Midnight said back. He handed Star the binoculars to Star so he could get a better look.

"You guys know there are still heaps of lollies here right?" Rust interjected, oblivious to the proceedings on the hill the other two were infatuated with. He shrugged as both Star and Midnight ignored him.

"Hey Star, do you know where foals come from?" Midnight whispered

"I don't know... This kind of makes me wonder though…" Somehow he could feel his innocence slipping away from him as watched the two ponies writhe together. He silently lowered the binoculars and shuddered. He didn't know what they were doing, but some instinct inside of him told him it was wrong. Very wrong.

"That's… just… urgh…" he whispered. He gave back the binoculars to Midnight. "Keep them, I don't want them back."

"I don't really want them either." Midnight said.

"You reckon we could go now?"

"Yeah probably… They don't seem to really be paying attention."

"Okay, let's go. Come on Rust!" Star whispered urgently, desperate to get away.

The unicorn let out a muffled affirmative.

The trio quietly climbed down from the tree and snuck back towards the tree line, Star and Midnight wondering if the somewhat depleted bag of lollies would be enough compensation for what they had seen.

* * *

Scar rolled off Dash with a gasp. Despite the cool night, they were both covered in a thin coat of sweat. The two lay in the grass, panting for breath after their intense lovemaking.

"Well that escalated quickly." Scar remarked playfully.

Dash let out a genuine laugh from next to him. She leaned over and gave him a quick nuzzle.

"Yeah. It did. But it was good." She moaned.

"I'll always be here for you Dash." Scar said.

"And me for you Scar." She whispered back.

"We should go back now before somepony misses us. It would an absolute buzz kill if somepony found us out here."

"Yeah good idea." Dash said looking at him with a mournful expression.

"What?" he asked.

"Just this is last time we'll be together. It's sad." She whispered

"Well… If you really wanted we could see each other every now and then…" Scar said suggestively.

Dash's ears perked up slightly but drooped just as quickly. "I'd like that Scar… But I don't think I can… I've already destroyed so much of what I am and what I represent tonight. I don't think I could keep doing it."

"Oh… ok…"

"Scar…"

"No, I understand. This isn't you. I'm the villain here."

They lay on the ground for a few moments more before Scar hauled himself up.

"Come on, I'll race you back."

"Oh you're on!"

* * *

Soarin opened his eyes but shut them quickly to block out the bright light. His head throbbed painfully and his breath smelt of liquor.

"What the hell did I do last night?" he muttered to himself

"Actually it was yesterday last morning." A voice said across from him making Soarin start in surprise.

Soarin opened one of his eyes a fraction and spied Juggernaut lazing on a longue across from him. Peering around cautiously, he realised he was in the team lounge.

"Good to see you awake though Princess; I was starting to wonder if I hit you a bit too hard."

"What day is it?"

"Sunday."

"How long have I been here?" Soarin croaked. He suddenly realised just how thirsty he was.

Juggernaut consulted a clock on the wall. "You've been out for probably around nineteen hours or so."

"Shit." Soarin rasped into a cushion.

"I'll get you a drink, I'll be right back."

'_I'm never drinking again.' _Soarin thought as he rolled tried to sit up. A wave of dizziness swept over him as pulled himself upright.

Juggernaut returned with a glass of water. "Here you go." He offered

Soarin mumbled a quick thanks before taking a few small sips. In his opinion, it was the best tasting water her had ever had. He winced as he suddenly that remembered that Patch would have been left alone last night if he was unconscious here. He would definitely have to make it up to her later.

"Anything I should know about happen while I was out?" he asked.

"Well I took the liberty of going through your mail…" Juggernaut said with a smirk.

"And?"

"A few invitations to some high class gatherings that you would hate, a few pieces of fan mail slipped in… as always, and this." He handed Soarin a small plain envelope.

"Who's it from?"

"No idea. No return address either."

"Curious and curiouser." Soarin muttered, tearing the letter open. As his eyes fell on the first letter his heart rate suddenly increased.

"It's from Spitfire." He said softly. "I'd recognise her hoof writing anywhere."

As he read, a growing sense of anger overtook him. "Jugs, stay here and look after the place."

"Where are you going?"

"To get my daughter back." Soarin snapped, stumbling out of the room.

* * *

Ambiguous ending is ambiguous

First thing first. IF ANYONE SAYS IN A REVIEW OR PM THAT DASH IS OOC, **I WILL GO DOWN TO MY BACKYARD, GRAB A BRICK, SHOVE IT DOWN MY NETWORK CABLE, SEND IT ACROSS THE INTERNET AND MAKE IT FLY OUT OF YOUR MONITOR.** I KNOW SHE IS BEING A BIT OOC SO JUST DEAL WITH IT OK? I wasn't entirely sold when my brain went 'Hey do this!' but I think I managed to justify enough okay? It made the story flow a lot better than my first idea so... there... JUST DON'T TELL ME OKAY? I KNOW! *Rabble rabble rabble* If you think I royal messed it up, say so but don't say I didn't warn you... *Readies brick shoving arm*

_Now that that's out of the way..._

Did someone say... Scootlaoo? She'll be here... Eventually.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed that chapter. As always, please leave a review if you feel so inclined. I appreciate your feedback and it helps motivate me to write more. If you have any questions, queries, quibbles (Besides what I pointed out before!), requests, death threats, stalker mail etc. they can be sent to me via a review or PM. I do make an effort to read everything people leave for me and respond f you ask questions/ request stuff.

Until next time...

Later!

Killbles

* * *

N.B. I won't actually shove bricks at people, the technology doesn't exist... yet.


End file.
